Blood relative
It’s all relative
this blood relative thing
I choose the left arm because
it's closer to my heart
I make a fist and squeeze
and squeeze
and squeeze harder
as if this will bring you back
I'm dehydrated without you
and the tourniquet tightens
for some reason the lights
keep changing like a sign
that you know I am here
laying back I question
will they become my blood
brother, my blood sister
or are we just two people
saving each other.
11/20/25
Lantern Fish
I just realized
I am a lantern fish
angling my way through
the darkness and weight
of everything above
but lighting my way.
11/19/24
Jersey Devil
Wasn't until we
were at the top that
I remembered the drop
it had been a while
this feeling of
teeter-totting on
the edge of
no control
and we rode in unison
single-tracking through
the waves of metal and fear
eyes wide and silent
the shock of it all.
11/11/24
Great Rayman
A Ekphrastic Poem
Lying in the dust,
the saffron and golden
hemp rope just
removed from your neck
for your photo debut,
you peel your 3000 pounds
away from the dry earth
and lumber into the tent
the woman and her stick
poised to strike your frame
but as soon as the shutter
clicks
you stretch your mouth wide
perhaps in a sign of strength
or maybe just tiredness over
once again being paraded out
you are so far from home.
11/11/24
Hippopotamus and performer, Great Rayman Circus. Chennai, India, 1989.
Mary Ellen Mark/The Mary Ellen Mark Foundation
23 Skidoo
Let's get out of here
Let's leave really quick
Let's consider elsewhere
But then again consider:
Age
Money
Job
Community
Family
Environment
Relations
Patriotism
Love
Where does that leave us?
Only 8:10 am
and tears in my tea.
11/6/24
Drought
Have you heard about the trees? Someone whispered it into ink, but they already knew. My car parked under the tall linden was covered with tiny spiders and I had to drive through the car wash twice just to make sure they were gone. Its all connected. The trees and the car wash and the pink foaming suds that get slapped on to the exterior because we all know they've been bad. Last week on the way to the mall my son saw the fires. What am I supposed to tell him? That I stood on the corner of Lafayette and Spring two decades ago and questioned how I can birth him into this burning world. Or maybe I just tell him I love him and we sing at the top of our lungs as we go through the car wash-—twice.
11/5/24
Moonscape
It would have been enough to moonwalk at the bottom of the reservoir. Influencing drought astronauts coming to explore the empty depths of my drinking water with their camera. The small mountains and craters emptied just weeks before. But nothing prepared me for the snaking line of dune buggies that rip-roared through the dust reminding me sci-fi always comes true.
11/4/24
Hoodie
I zip you up
and bring you with me
wouldn't be a show
you would see
except in the afterlife
but your here now
as I get smoked out
in purgatory.
11/10/24
Jewelry Box
It’s just like my mother
to take a shower and search
slowly in her jewelry box for
the perfect pair of sterling
earrings, as I stand at the
foot of her bed trying to
imbue a sense of urgency
to the situation. My father
warms up the car for
the hospital, where less than
an hour later she realizes
that she left her earrings
somewhere near the CT scan.
A nurse delivers them in a baby
pink dentures case. A sign of
something to come.
November 27, 2021
Overdue
9 months until
1 arrived
7 days beyond late
2 parents falling in love
5 family members with new titles
8 until he could
8 no more before sleeping
5 hours and waking for
1 more on November
6th before bringing you home
November 22, 2021
Bath
Soaking I contemplate
what if I could slip out
with the bathwater
down the twisted drain
riding the pipes
as if in Thunderball Cannon
before expelling into the ocean
surprising the rays
running with the blues
hearing the low hum
of all the motors
distracting the dolphins
leading them far
off-track to swim
in lavender sea salts
while my body above
listens to dolphins
and prays.
November 20, 2021
Micromanage
Let us all
Eat together without
Trying to control
The meal
Unnecessarily, let us
Connect with
Each other
Connections
Underlie all the
Culinary choices
Usually
Made
By
Each
Relative
Reassignment for
All the
Dishes,
Instead of
Sharing in the
Happiness
November 19th, 2021
Reverse Fight
Holding fiercely to our sides, my weighted
head digs into your chest
The tears slide up and pool lake-like,
in our eyes. We release our clenched
fists and inhale. Words pink-pong,
as I fold laundry into perfect squares
at the bottom of the stairs. The hurt
you feel is nowhere near where I left it
in the house. The dog and I in lockstep,
our gait unapologetic witnessed by stars
I stand up enraged. Move to the sink,
clanging pans like a pirate
wondering why you had to reply,
Are you really saying that again?
November 14, 2021
Morning Routine I – Aspirational
Window open
first breath
salt or woods
moss bed meditation
sandalwood bath
read in sheets
earl with honey
7:00
Morning Routine II- Reality
Feet on floor
first breath
eggs over easy
dog-clog shuffle
paint eyebrows
ignore the paper
assam with milk
8:14
November 13th, 2021