It’s my turn to take the micNot as a character Not the representative you know, but asThe brave voice of who I amDwelling deep where my story livesI don’t like to feel What’s difficultThis standing here on stage before you Is the beginning of beingWilling to feel The doubt, anger, fear To grow into theContinue reading “Before I Speak”
Category Archives: Poetry
Available now: The Vulnerability of Birds Poetry Collection
The same woman
When I am 91Waking up in my bed on wide white sheetsVanishing into the open question At the end of my lifeI am still a young womanNo baby suckles my breasts AnymoreNo tiny hand in mine Brings me to the windowTo hear the birdsYet I am the same woman Who wrote this poemLong agoFrom theContinue reading “The same woman”
Scandal
It is an act of self contemptThat I pull white hairs from my head Leaning into the mirrorScanning for the inaccuraciesIn what I wish to beMy youthful appearance This is not just a denial of the truth of my ageBut a metaphor for my existence These unruly sproutsArrived at this late hour toExpress the essentialContinue reading “Scandal”
The Choice
There is only one answer I want to hear When I ask each dayTo myselfCan I drink ever again? Part of me believes I have a choiceCan you believeThat I can’t believe “I’m an alcoholic”I knowWine is my drugI must rememberIt is the great lie that Addiction comes looking the way I thinkNot what you’veContinue reading “The Choice”
God Washes Away the Devil
I used to I used to I used to knowWho I amChaos(Turn)Doesn’t the devil do his work?Under disguisePain is dependence(Turn)Listen Go InIn in in, friendDown down downLight call it Relax softIn call in the light Down down downLet it fill tendencyPain is the openingTendernessOf GodYou are right This is who you areRememberGod washes away the devil
Arizona
How different we are If different is the word For your dirty feet Nestled sweetly together Two tired pigeons The sun bakes the heat into the pavement like a griddleSearing any skin it touchesNot fit for a human To walk hereUnder this overpassBy the concrete park You are grey dust Grey shirt grey mess hairIn a haze of busy avenue shadowsContinue reading “Arizona”
Touching the Earth
When you are left behindIn the herd’s movements and young potency And you forget who you areRemember: you know how to listen
Under the Black Moon
I.Mercury / black moonBreatheLittle cat gripping the walls of the tubStart over and trust that I canII.I wasn’t old enough to even buy cigarettesSought out troubleThe black sicknessCrouched over the hypnotic whirr of the ceramic wheelMy hands lost in the curative water of clay slipThe clay demands perfect balance or else warps off centerI allowContinue reading “Under the Black Moon”
Welcome I and II
I.Three crows greet me this morning Hopping in place on the fence Strange friends Crowd aroundThey stay close Eyes stop as I pass And meet the winking black gaze Of the closest A fourth alights On a far wall: the witness Then a fifthLate to the murder What had they been waiting for? Is itContinue reading “Welcome I and II”
