Monday, February 02, 2015
Sunday, February 01, 2015
Friday, January 30, 2015
Friday, January 23, 2015
The Sense of an Ending
the sky is a staircase
the sounds of the day
going away
The dark is to
tear down stars
all of ours
squeeze their affluent
and vintage shine
wet as wine
_
the sounds of the day
going away
The dark is to
tear down stars
all of ours
squeeze their affluent
and vintage shine
wet as wine
_
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Monday, January 19, 2015
Wednesday, January 07, 2015
A Third Coast
On the brine of memory
the ink of veins marks spots
It is a storm of forgetting;
at each sob, she jettisons
Parents as they were, embraces
in sorrow how they now are
sweeps it all into feeling
grabbing and flailing even so
_
Saturday, December 20, 2014
Monday, December 01, 2014
Stand Down
Reaching for amusement
but the door slams
meticulous and tight.
Spinning silently,
breath touches corners
and then as surely
is inhaled back in
brittle as silk
_
but the door slams
meticulous and tight.
Spinning silently,
breath touches corners
and then as surely
is inhaled back in
brittle as silk
_
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Novemberance
Foreshortened day,
unwelcome touch,
and unkind light.
I read the warnings,
count out their syllables.
Then snow webs
untidy, un-mappable,
planting everywhere.
Racing, erasing my flesh,
being, becoming my body.
_
Monday, November 17, 2014
Keepsake
a smile-dusted child
swarms grandly
up hope's slope
unfurls something
bigger than the world
mouth stretched wide
so smiles endearments
all--are kinds of kisses
_
swarms grandly
up hope's slope
unfurls something
bigger than the world
mouth stretched wide
so smiles endearments
all--are kinds of kisses
_
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Ugh, Bill Cosby
In the wake of Trayvon Martin and Michael Browne, I found The Cosby Show on TVLND and it became a habit to watch/listen to reruns while I folded laundry or cleaned. It was somewhat escapist and a little bit inspiring to hark back to some golden age where a sitcom about a black family was the show of choice for most of middle America. Internally, I quietly disagreed with much of Clive Huxtable's parenting; separately, I vociferously disagreed with Bill Cosby's pronouncements about "Welfare Moms and Thugs," still it carried on.
Until all these reports of Bill Cosby's rape of multiple young (and teen) women.
_
Friday, November 14, 2014
Absence
Well, I don't know.
In small portions
this body would be fields
of stupid ideas repeated
a concussion of cowardice
in all the openings
of kind words unsaid.
But where are you?
It's time to feed ghosts at the
pressing behest of their buttons
And soon we'll be:
ancient or innocent
epochal or whatever
and just not the same.
_
Thursday, November 13, 2014
In Silence
Speaking still
in triangles
the moon's half smile
last night gazes zen
past the brazen
stare of the phone
which kisses my fingers
promises to wake at four
And after that, the flare
of the soft scimitar
of your mouth
dim with sleep
_
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Shoreline
Bruised and accumulating
the lichen of thought
and the plenty
of quarrels
quarrying then policing
altering but falling
belonging
(to none)
these are the tidal drags
the smash of boredom
the open fall
of over
_
the lichen of thought
and the plenty
of quarrels
quarrying then policing
altering but falling
belonging
(to none)
these are the tidal drags
the smash of boredom
the open fall
of over
_
Monday, November 10, 2014
Sunday, November 09, 2014
Saturday, November 08, 2014
Friday, November 07, 2014
Thursday, November 06, 2014
Wednesday, November 05, 2014
Tuesday, November 04, 2014
Sunday, November 02, 2014
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
And on the Fifth Day...
A went to Chicago for a conference FOUR days ago.
It's a testament to the effed-up-ness of his work schedule that the kids finally got around to wondering where he was this morning.
OR
It's a testament to how technology can keep us connected despite distance--they've been texting, emailing, and talking all along.
-
It's a testament to the effed-up-ness of his work schedule that the kids finally got around to wondering where he was this morning.
OR
It's a testament to how technology can keep us connected despite distance--they've been texting, emailing, and talking all along.
-
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Summary
Morning
is a kaleidoscope calling out
--although it is hard to hear
I answer: Yes? Hello?
as though speaking into
an old-fashioned telephone
Night
mimics birds bedding,
my arms punctured now
by pain, pine-tree needles.
In the end, the day leaves
unnoticed and uncomposed
_
is a kaleidoscope calling out
--although it is hard to hear
I answer: Yes? Hello?
as though speaking into
an old-fashioned telephone
Night
mimics birds bedding,
my arms punctured now
by pain, pine-tree needles.
In the end, the day leaves
unnoticed and uncomposed
_
Monday, October 27, 2014
Eerily, just this morning a colleague told me that he'd sent out a job application to the U of Wyoming at Laramie, and then we had the near-obligatory talk about Matthew Shepard.
An hour after, I find in this weekend's edition of The Guardian--a truther-style story about details that might have been suppressed in the race to anoint Shepard as a poster-boy for anti-hate legislation.
We seem to prefer heroes on a template, but details are not the enemy.
_
An hour after, I find in this weekend's edition of The Guardian--a truther-style story about details that might have been suppressed in the race to anoint Shepard as a poster-boy for anti-hate legislation.
We seem to prefer heroes on a template, but details are not the enemy.
_
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Nostalgia and Kindness
It's true that every time I hear this song, it brings a lump to my throat.
Nu says, "That's like you, Mama. You left your mom and Dad too."
At silently thumps me on my shoulder. (Somewhat smirkily, the way he seems to do everything these days, but still kindly.)
Broods: Mother and Father
_
Saturday, October 18, 2014
A Quiet Thanksgiving
Right now
the afternoon brightens
the dogs sleep
beside me
the last of the corn
and the best acorn squash
from the garden are
roasting from light to gold
The kids sleep one room away
done with every weekend activity
A stumbled home from a night shift
and also sleeps
I? I have something completely
unrelated to work to read
while the week's laundry
churns itself clean and dry
Sounds so ordinary
but this hasn't happened
in years. It is a returning
peace, to be thankful.
_
the afternoon brightens
the dogs sleep
beside me
the last of the corn
and the best acorn squash
from the garden are
roasting from light to gold
The kids sleep one room away
done with every weekend activity
A stumbled home from a night shift
and also sleeps
I? I have something completely
unrelated to work to read
while the week's laundry
churns itself clean and dry
Sounds so ordinary
but this hasn't happened
in years. It is a returning
peace, to be thankful.
_
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
The Backstory...
So Nu has a 'sister' at school.
"Angel and I do every thing together. We're really, really sisters."
I get it. Sometimes having a loving big brother is not really your thing, and you need someone more like the giggly tweens populating the shows your parents decided to ration.
"We're really, really, REALLY sisters."
I guess?
"You see--before dad met you, he and Angel's mom had Angel."
It takes a while to convince her that I'm really uncomfortable with this scenario...
"That's ok, I don't think Angel would mind if we switch it up and make it about you and her dad."
_
"Angel and I do every thing together. We're really, really sisters."
I get it. Sometimes having a loving big brother is not really your thing, and you need someone more like the giggly tweens populating the shows your parents decided to ration.
"We're really, really, REALLY sisters."
I guess?
"You see--before dad met you, he and Angel's mom had Angel."
It takes a while to convince her that I'm really uncomfortable with this scenario...
"That's ok, I don't think Angel would mind if we switch it up and make it about you and her dad."
_
Friday, June 27, 2014
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Saturday, June 21, 2014
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Monday, June 16, 2014
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Friday, May 02, 2014
Friday, April 25, 2014
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Prophet
(For J.K.)
Morning light
your message asks
if I'm alright--when you
dreamt of me last night
it sounds like maybe
I was not alright
Morning breaks too,
birds are the traffic
wardens of our sky--
like them, I become
many many things.
All small magic--
Like a funnel it's still
and still the same thing
on the other side. One
must keep on, there's
little choice on a slide.
I just thank you, believing...
me as I argue what I didn't
know I knew. That's huge.
See: If I said now, even
innocuously, "raincoats on."
Someone (age 6) might scoff
"How would *you* know?"
_
Morning light
your message asks
if I'm alright--when you
dreamt of me last night
it sounds like maybe
I was not alright
Morning breaks too,
birds are the traffic
wardens of our sky--
like them, I become
many many things.
All small magic--
Like a funnel it's still
and still the same thing
on the other side. One
must keep on, there's
little choice on a slide.
I just thank you, believing...
me as I argue what I didn't
know I knew. That's huge.
See: If I said now, even
innocuously, "raincoats on."
Someone (age 6) might scoff
"How would *you* know?"
_
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Monday, April 14, 2014
This is a morning
Painted with the colors of my childhood
a door swings, calls my childhood name
the stairs lift me as did mother and father
the breeze, their blessing calling me home
_
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Friday, April 11, 2014
An Explanation
Hours rhyme
silenced
on either side
you miss
all this
when you die
comb calendars
take back
days--
some days
nothing
happened
some babies
are called
baby
answers turn
and run
into mouths
you squeeze
the neck
of a bottle
_
Tuesday, April 08, 2014
A Dimple in Time
In the middle of August
four years ago, I uploaded
this picture of Nu to FB.
It was whimsically captioned:
"One day, the child made a wish--
and then summer started."
My sister's school friend
(newly friended) found it
today, liked it. Others did too.
I looked through that
entire album at work
and missed my babies.
She was just two then
she's headed for Grade 2
this August. Soon.
So small and squishy, right?
But I remember thinking then
that she'd become a big kid.
Ok, yes.
Time is fleeting,
but it's also so ridiculous.
_
Monday, April 07, 2014
Of Never
They
try to make
the day stay--
to find
days that are
round and ripe
to
grow cities
and conversation
spiral
in slow, secret
snail-like orbit
the year's
great love,
time's anchor.
_
try to make
the day stay--
to find
days that are
round and ripe
to
grow cities
and conversation
spiral
in slow, secret
snail-like orbit
the year's
great love,
time's anchor.
_
Sunday, April 06, 2014
Quiet/Spring
little snow callus
to amputate
*
ghost weather
I'm not afraid
*
calla lilies
may evaporate
*
But my kingdom
is coming
*
to amputate
*
ghost weather
I'm not afraid
*
calla lilies
may evaporate
*
But my kingdom
is coming
*
Saturday, April 05, 2014
Friday, April 04, 2014
On Coolness
I gave her a bad haircut.
and felt terrible.
She didn't care!
She wore a velvet hat
and added
a leather jacket.
Me: How are you so cool?
She: Don't know.
I guess I just am.
But not every one in the family
is cool (exactly) like that
Exhibit Big A:
Who it seems--
might let me get away
with just about anything :).
_
Thursday, April 03, 2014
Wednesday, April 02, 2014
Quickly
You place the fight in my eye,
throw me a cape of illustration
the ideas ride along underneath,
in the hiccup of my photograph.
_
throw me a cape of illustration
the ideas ride along underneath,
in the hiccup of my photograph.
_
Tuesday, April 01, 2014
Monday, March 31, 2014
These Days
I translate everything:
extra hour of daylight,
half hour before kids,
come home--
I make up courtesies.
Every place is all
papers and books
(and prayers)
And I'm always telling
my date again.
No. Nothing personal
allowed--
unless it's already on
an official form
a continent away.
What a terrible idea
to tell them everything
to give them my books
to give away thoughts
that initiate my breath
Read on, hoping for
another line that
invents the kind
of caress that
can make you forget.
_
extra hour of daylight,
half hour before kids,
come home--
I make up courtesies.
Every place is all
papers and books
(and prayers)
And I'm always telling
my date again.
No. Nothing personal
allowed--
unless it's already on
an official form
a continent away.
What a terrible idea
to tell them everything
to give them my books
to give away thoughts
that initiate my breath
Read on, hoping for
another line that
invents the kind
of caress that
can make you forget.
_
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Encircled
We drew a lot of circles in class today because of Martha Nussbaum and the Stoics.
But it reminded me of another Greek:
Euclid
But it reminded me of another Greek:
Euclid
(Vachel Lindsay)
Old Euclid drew a circle
On a sand-beach long ago.
He bounded and enclosed it
With angles thus and so.
His set of solemn greybeards
Nodded and argued much
Of arc and circumference,
Diameter and such.
A silent child stood by them
From morning until noon
Because they drew such charming
Round pictures of the moon.
On a sand-beach long ago.
He bounded and enclosed it
With angles thus and so.
His set of solemn greybeards
Nodded and argued much
Of arc and circumference,
Diameter and such.
A silent child stood by them
From morning until noon
Because they drew such charming
Round pictures of the moon.
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
A Serious Accusation
These days--and nights--with the kids cute, funny, kinda little, and sleeping under the same roof feel so blessed.
Letting each day go is a struggle, I know I'll look back on now as some of the sweetest times of parenthood some day.
That said, the kids aren't really *that* little.
Just yesterday, the first-grader accused me of treating her "like a kindergartner" :).
_
Letting each day go is a struggle, I know I'll look back on now as some of the sweetest times of parenthood some day.
That said, the kids aren't really *that* little.
Just yesterday, the first-grader accused me of treating her "like a kindergartner" :).
_
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Monday, March 24, 2014
Downcast
1) That mid-morning call from the school--heart-racing panic before I understand that there is some meeting about traffic safety scheduled for Wednesday.
2) The official admission that MH 370 is really lost--do I grieve or conjure alternative endings?
3) Way before we've celebrated the beautiful way the judge struck down the ban on same-sex marriage in Michigan and the lovely way county clerks stayed open on the weekend to enable couples to marry, the expected appeal by the officially installed trolls against marriage equality. The counter-appeal from Equality Michigan is here.
4) Reading the Good Wife spoiler before I could skip it--reading speed isn't helpful except in elementary school.
Trying not to dwell on these and continue working…
_
2) The official admission that MH 370 is really lost--do I grieve or conjure alternative endings?
3) Way before we've celebrated the beautiful way the judge struck down the ban on same-sex marriage in Michigan and the lovely way county clerks stayed open on the weekend to enable couples to marry, the expected appeal by the officially installed trolls against marriage equality. The counter-appeal from Equality Michigan is here.
4) Reading the Good Wife spoiler before I could skip it--reading speed isn't helpful except in elementary school.
Trying not to dwell on these and continue working…
_
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Control
(Fright)
Addicted to rebellion
does it makes it alright?
Warping what you say-
you feel, the way we go.
We'll be okay, O.K?
Go on forever like a
bad spelling of
Mississippissippi
(Fight)
Throw a million arms
in insults crafted like
poems; throw smiling
selfies, "alrights" right
back into the wind;
scoffing like the glint
on a knife, blood falling
through our words.
(Flight)
Thinking through this
tsunami of absolutely nothing.
Then suddenly feel far away,
falling, speeding through space
trying to leave all of this--
the limp flags of you and me
war, anger, surrender, earth,
being awake, everything--
_
Addicted to rebellion
does it makes it alright?
Warping what you say-
you feel, the way we go.
We'll be okay, O.K?
Go on forever like a
bad spelling of
Mississippissippi
(Fight)
Throw a million arms
in insults crafted like
poems; throw smiling
selfies, "alrights" right
back into the wind;
scoffing like the glint
on a knife, blood falling
through our words.
(Flight)
Thinking through this
tsunami of absolutely nothing.
Then suddenly feel far away,
falling, speeding through space
trying to leave all of this--
the limp flags of you and me
war, anger, surrender, earth,
being awake, everything--
_
Friday, March 21, 2014
With What is Left of the Moon Tonight
I bronze those years as wild
but did we disappear
into shyness
mildly trembling
from undiagnosed gaze
thoughts that ate us whole?
Gone unappeased for weeks
the sun, the day and night
falling upon us
as the road squints
and is growing from tiny,
drowning, reinventing in bed.
You've come with me, silently
your words flickering
peripheral--ghostly
an axis buried
so deep underground
not even breath breaks or stirs.
But you can locate me as if--
as if by a sensuous sonar
just your mouth
closing in with
rush, ache, amusement
wordlessly speaking of touch.
but did we disappear
into shyness
mildly trembling
from undiagnosed gaze
thoughts that ate us whole?
Gone unappeased for weeks
the sun, the day and night
falling upon us
as the road squints
and is growing from tiny,
drowning, reinventing in bed.
You've come with me, silently
your words flickering
peripheral--ghostly
an axis buried
so deep underground
not even breath breaks or stirs.
But you can locate me as if--
as if by a sensuous sonar
just your mouth
closing in with
rush, ache, amusement
wordlessly speaking of touch.
Thursday, March 20, 2014
power
Her eyes pool with regret
agrees she really shouldn't
have taken so long for breakfast
now it's late
now I can't walk her
into her elementary school building
now she'll have to ring the bell herself
wait for the double doors to open
line up at the office for a "late card"
and walk the almost emptied
hallways to class.
By herself.
Her mouth is a cartoon of sadness
her hands (still dimpled) tug
wordlessly
I say "no."
I hold out.
I'm very stern.
O.K. Out you get.
O.K. I'll watch till you get in.
O.K. But I'll only come to the door, O.K.?
There--she's ahead of me
smiling small and secret
her eyes at half mast and triumphant.
_
agrees she really shouldn't
have taken so long for breakfast
now it's late
now I can't walk her
into her elementary school building
now she'll have to ring the bell herself
wait for the double doors to open
line up at the office for a "late card"
and walk the almost emptied
hallways to class.
By herself.
Her mouth is a cartoon of sadness
her hands (still dimpled) tug
wordlessly
I say "no."
I hold out.
I'm very stern.
O.K. Out you get.
O.K. I'll watch till you get in.
O.K. But I'll only come to the door, O.K.?
There--she's ahead of me
smiling small and secret
her eyes at half mast and triumphant.
_
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Diagnosis
Their eyes tell me about my future
how they grow up soft
in my heart
Their hands travel like my past
muddied innocent
grown lean
Their touch keeps books of memories
to listen, turn, learn
and cry out
_
how they grow up soft
in my heart
Their hands travel like my past
muddied innocent
grown lean
Their touch keeps books of memories
to listen, turn, learn
and cry out
_
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Eat your Bath!
I made Bisibele bhath for dinner.
And Nu thought it was hilarious
saying stuff like:
"This bath is delicious!"
"I've eaten all my bath!"
You get it.
And Nu thought it was hilarious
saying stuff like:
"This bath is delicious!"
"I've eaten all my bath!"
You get it.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
New York
take it as proof
make it a prayer
memory
around earth
beyond desire
learn its anarchy
discern distance
lost
in indecision
and questions
_
Monday, March 10, 2014
Meditation
I wait for the sun.
The first golden
sliver
A fingernail's
paring
of light
A coin that
scribbles
exchange
Glittering
the day
with
More than
one-sided
coherence
_
The first golden
sliver
A fingernail's
paring
of light
A coin that
scribbles
exchange
Glittering
the day
with
More than
one-sided
coherence
_
Sunday, March 09, 2014
Saturday, March 08, 2014
Friday, March 07, 2014
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
home
I walk this earth as though I own those skies in daylight and delight wet, velvety evening and night __________________ Pic: Someone'...
-
Friends and old neighbors shutting it down in honor of John Crawford. _
-
I have the feeling that I’m going to succumb to the season and put out a list of resolutions soon. Just wanted to establish this heads up th...
-
At had us pose for this pic up at Aunt R's place on Lake Huron so he could put it up in his dorm. "Don't tur...