Witch Woman

Anoint yourself daily.

Draw strength from sun and stars,
draw strength from soil.
Cover every surface with prayers and blessings.

Draw strength. From sun and stars
learn mantras to ward off maljoe and badmind;
cover every surface. With prayers and blessings
craft potions for serenity.

Learn mantras.

Listen for the earth's lessons,
craft potions for serenity,
give thanks.

Listen first.

Anoint yourself daily
give thanks always
speak love into the world

Womanhood

pouring all your love
into a broken vessel
and slicing your hands on the shards

full nakedness

To be

naked and in 

love: not all nakedness

is intimate but this is and 

we are

Re: tabanca

re: tabanca

It will always surprise.
It will come like a thief,
in the night in old love songs
like waves in full tide
like the dull ache of a bruise.
And it will linger.

re:re tabanca

Much like the tides,
it will flood, but it will ebb
And like the bruise,
it will fade.
You will learn to sing new songs.

archipelago

we,
the
dis-
joint-
ed
children of stolen peoples
living on stolen lands
claiming
and
re-claiming
until we can find ourselves again
whole

2016

I enter this year bawling like an infant

peeling away dry, numb, skin

tender and pink beneath--

but feeling.

"And in my first year of college I was with this girl and I called it a thing."

I loved you most when you were bold and bashful

wildeyed at 4 am

and brilliant

up late in the kitchen

sniffing daikon and shrugging

tasting everything

i loved you most when we were two warm bodies

moving together through the night

fitting perfectly

wrt handstands and schoolyard acrobatics

i was seven when i learned

to fear how hard the earth would be

if i fell

April 3rd, 2015

I want to give myself to the earth
commit to her lessons
learn softness and openness
generosity and balance
when to retreat
and when to blossom

Sea Poem II

I surrender myself to the sea

the salt of infinite lives
washing over me

I can forgive a little sand
lingering in my hair

artifice

we speak in riddles and doublespeak

and half-finished glances

i am tired of never saying what i mean

and hoping you understand

me:

coy but ready

you:

distant but yearning

everything is artifice

and we are just playing parts

Day 3-Write about interpersonal relationships and the games we play to avoid vulnerability.

Today was a good day, but...

I have not quite burned down this house

let’s call it a coat that I have hung up in the summer months

a house feels too large

and too final a thing

and I fear that winter will find mind me

and I will be all to ready to drape myself in old sorrows.

Day 2- Write a poem that addresses at least one other poem and/or poet by name. You might imitate, parody, disagree with, champion, or generally respond to the other poem and poet.

I chose A Good Day  by Kait Rokowski

Housekeeping

I'm about to post a bunch of poems from the various half-finished poetry challenges I've started for 2015. Enjoy.
Promptly in January
For My Girl April 2015

Love Like a Mango

Dec 22, 2014

There was a fullness to our love

like that mango just within your reach
unblemished and warm
falling straight into your palm
eaten under the shade of the tree
juice dripping down your elbow

temporary in its bliss,
but perfect in that moment.

always in the quiet hours (22 sept 2014)

at night i ask
when will i relearn to love myself
in the quiet hours

lessons i have yet to learn

(22 July 2014)

Things that start with
"maybe if I"
and end with
"then I will feel better'
rarely ever work.
Happiness will not come from someone else's touch
there is nothing and noone
you can put in your mouth
or on your body
that can bring you joy.

27 april 2014

self-loathing:
i find myself
relieved when vile men can
still find this expanse of flesh
appetizing

24 april 2014

you are
not a graceful
sleeper but i have learned
to love your sprawled sighs when
i can't
sleep.

primary caregiver

(july 2013)


Step one of growing older in the presence of the elderly: observe how the giants of your childhood wither into frailty
Step two: begin to second guess every eccentricity
Is this what they meant by signs to look for?
When did she get so small?
How could she have ever forgotten my birthday?
Step three: dance around her with the nervousness reserved for the ill.
She will look at you with the resentment that can only come from those whom illness has only left shame and regret.
Step four: begin to hold her hand again.

It is one to thing to care for the senescent
And another to do it in the house they raised you in.

bankrupt

(oct. 2013)


Part of me longs for richness

With wealth comes the freedom

To make your home in whatever place you like.

Tell me that true wealth comes from loving

And I will tell you that love goes far

But cannot feed empty bellies

You cannot pay bills on love alone

And too much of this life comes with a price.

Tell me I cannot eat money

But tell me what I can eat without it.

Tell me that true wealth comes from the people you hold in you heart

And I will tell you that there are people

Who want

-more than all these poor friends they seem to have-

To just stop feeling so worthless for a little while

Tell me again how your parents seemed completely certain

That sacrificing everything so their children could sample a bit of the lower middle class life was the right decision

Try telling them there is more to life than money

Tell me to rid myself of these ties to money

And I will tell you that you cannot unlearn generations of feeling that the money you earn is your only worth in one lifetime

And I still haven't learned to stretch poverty into a life lesson.