Please enjoy a selection of my poetry and microfiction below.
No Clocks
I have no use for your
Heaven
As it is
On earth
I have
Old tables of
Old friends
Heaven
As it is
On earth
I have
Old tables of
Old friends
And no clocks
In the world ahead
In the world ahead
please know you can linger in
my doorway too long
please know you can linger in
my doorway too long
Breath and Share
You see it, don't you?
The helping.
Neighbors helping. Neighbors
Helping strangers.
The unspoken agreement:
Coming together
Is what comes next.
The human impulse
To help. In a crisis
We find what's missing
In the mundane.
It's ironic. Disaster
Destroys so much;
Even the illusion is prey.
You know it, don't you?
Community. You know
How to take care of
Your people. They are
After all, yours.
And you are theirs.
We are each other's
Most valuable
Possessions. We forgot
Only for a moment,
But there's still time.
You feel it, don't you?
The awakening
Of your humanity.
Again, sleepy eyes slowly
Opening. Inside
A shiver of hope? Come
Home to the meaning
Of your existence:
That heaven is ours to create
Here and now. Find her
Forgotten pieces inside you,
Dust them off,
And lend them out
Like old library books.
You remember now, don't you?
The instinct.
You don't need to know
Their names to know
Their needing
As your own.
It's not radical. Kindness
Is vigor not virtue.
Every exhale is someone's
Next inhale.
We breathe therefore
We share. Therefore,
We breathe.
The helping.
Neighbors helping. Neighbors
Helping strangers.
The unspoken agreement:
Coming together
Is what comes next.
The human impulse
To help. In a crisis
We find what's missing
In the mundane.
It's ironic. Disaster
Destroys so much;
Even the illusion is prey.
You know it, don't you?
Community. You know
How to take care of
Your people. They are
After all, yours.
And you are theirs.
We are each other's
Most valuable
Possessions. We forgot
Only for a moment,
But there's still time.
You feel it, don't you?
The awakening
Of your humanity.
Again, sleepy eyes slowly
Opening. Inside
A shiver of hope? Come
Home to the meaning
Of your existence:
That heaven is ours to create
Here and now. Find her
Forgotten pieces inside you,
Dust them off,
And lend them out
Like old library books.
You remember now, don't you?
The instinct.
You don't need to know
Their names to know
Their needing
As your own.
It's not radical. Kindness
Is vigor not virtue.
Every exhale is someone's
Next inhale.
We breathe therefore
We share. Therefore,
We breathe.
Don't let it slip away.
Swiftly as it arrived
With the smoky wind
It will fade
(Catch it!)
Back to business
As always. You have a choice:
Lift up, lift up
All there is
For everyone.
Or let go, let go and let this be
All there is.
Swiftly as it arrived
With the smoky wind
It will fade
(Catch it!)
Back to business
As always. You have a choice:
Lift up, lift up
All there is
For everyone.
Or let go, let go and let this be
All there is.
The Rapture
How do you not know by now?
The Rapture happens everyday.
The Rapture happens everyday.
Parents snatched before our eyes;
Names erased and untraceable.
Family trees turned to dust,
Names erased and untraceable.
Family trees turned to dust,
While we go on existing, with open wounds.
You can miss me with your tales
You can miss me with your tales
Of the glory. To be
Violently plucked from this life is not holy.
We have been all but destroyed
Violently plucked from this life is not holy.
We have been all but destroyed
By your obsession with separation,
So forgive us if we don't
Share your adulation for departure.
Share your adulation for departure.
(Although we could make
A fortune from the irony.)
If you're so desperate to disappear
A fortune from the irony.)
If you're so desperate to disappear
Will you return to us the mothers and fathers
And children?
And children?
Lock the gate behind you when you're through.
The Morning After
The morning sun, slowly yawning, paints blue over the grey of last night's deluge. Like psychics, we finally turn to each other on cue. He tears his eyes away from the road to join my weary smile. My eyes are still red. I crank the passenger window down in our SUV, cracking through a red crust of mud. A reminder of our midnight heroism. The damp air washes over my bare shoulders. I reach my fingers for home in the nape of his neck, goosebumps forming despite the warmth. To think only hours before we were stranded in the dark.
