Baba

I dream of Baba In spirals. Before I met him dreaming, He used to stand in the corner of my bedroom Screaming That he had to tell me something. My father would rush in and usher him out. Baba looked confused and lost, But I liked to think he knew something that none of the...

Blood Has Become Water

To his family, evil had comeWhen they began treating strangers as sonsAnd their own kin, they regarded as scum. Blood has become water,For the man's fatherNo longer trusts his own son. Blood has become water;His own brother can't even be botheredBy the man's cancer. Blood has become waterBecause beating her grandchild is fodderFor his mother's...

Brink

We wait,Wait for that rain;Our loneliness is drying everything out again.We trip over splintered and buckled boards on our porch.We writhe in anxiousness for it to pour,Wondering whether we can stand another second more,Considering the possibility this dryness will never stop.We swear we will jump from this brink and flop.And then,We exhale.And feel, on our...

What To Do When The Collector Comes

When to an end they succumb, When The Collector comes, Understand it’s like the uncontrolled descent of a parachute Or the fumbled baton in a relay race. Remember then that nothing belongs to you in the first place. Hear the pop When the string In your hand, Dear Kite King, Snaps. Oh, Gudi Badsha, Mistakenly...

Retribution

He writes a song for her: Verse 1 Chorus Verse 2 Chorus Bridge Verse 3 Chorus Key Change Chorus X 2 She writes a story for him: Attention-Grabbing Action-Based Opening Cleverly-Woven Exposition Establishing of Character Motivation to Move Story Forward Prose Prose Prose Dialogue Dialogue Dialogue Building of Tension Revealing of Turning Point Resolution Denouement...

Afraid To Sleep

He is afraid to fall asleep. It seems there is something he forgot That he really needs to do But doesn’t know what it is. It is something the morning won’t allow. He feels that if he stays in the night, here, safe, All would be quiet and calm And there would be no confrontation....

I Would Tell You

I would tell you to come to the forest near the blue mountain, but you’re already there. I would tell you of the strange journey, Via pathways few of us take (or know about). I might have once thought about boots and flashy hiking gear, Of tarps, tents, and lanterns, But what good would they...

Needles (A Dark Holiday Poem)

Things I am Thankful for This Holiday Evening: Thank you for this crackling fire Beneath my twinkling, tinsel-decorated fireplace mantel, Which I enjoy from this pillowy armchair With my knitting needles in hand and doily-adorned sewing machine close by. Thank you for the pleasant clinking of the needles And the glide of the soft yarn...

Orderly Gray (Narrative Poem)

There is big excitement in the convalescent home today. Daniel Coleman Is walking Without holding The metal hallway railing that assists the patients. Each slow-motion step Is its own awakening from death. People line the sterilized, peach-wallpapered halls As if they are all Welcoming a war hero home. Although Daniel's doing Is as if he...

The Cake is a Lie

The promise of cake on the dining room table Is a lie, And so are the writhing maggots in its place. I'm dessert! I had heard it speak. I'm sweet and rich with dark-chocolate swirls! I turned to see quick, Expecting buttercream thick And an orange-lit wick To celebrate with. But there was no cake....

The Breaks

I keep it on a hook in the back of the coat closet, My green umbrella. But there's nothing but sun to see, (A red-orange streak cuts across the dusk), No use to carry it with me. It's nice to know I have it, though. Come for a walk outside, you say, On account of...

When Hindsight Comes A-Calling

Hindsight knocked. He brought Bravado, And close behind, Blame did follow. I invited the First Then shut the door To keep away the Second and Third. I pulled out a chair for the guest to sit To stay and chat a little bit. We sipped our tea, (Hindsight and Me), And no one else sat...

I Was Wrong

I was wrong when I said 'Magic. Isn't. Real.' It is, For that which was gifted to me Was an ability To carry on happily And patiently. It is purple that I see In every shadow, mudhole, and sand flea.

In the Wake of Whales

Ishmael watched Ahab Chasing the perceived taunt Of the beast of the sea, That haunt of the gaunt, White Ghost of the sea. O, to be Ishmael! (What painful helplessness!) The observer, the powerless. To be unable to do a thing but retell the story. I, reader of Ishmael's tale know 'Tis true! The White...

Come These Fruits

Yesterday I fasted, fallow, Then ate one orange on the morrow. Were it that I became so thin, I'd cut these waves as though a fin. Can't be just me who wouldn't care Were it that I would disappear. Though tempting 'tis to run away, What we're given we're meant to face. Come these fruits...

Melt, Wilt, Wring

If an ice cube melts in Cyprus, Would a seal feel it in Alaska? I ask ya. When a willow wilts in Thailand, Will the terrain sprout a new one in Belgium? C'mon. Tell 'em. If I wring my soul dry like a wet towel here, Would you be soul-thirsty there? I'll wait, wondering, in...

Do They Know?

How does a purple-blossomed plant Thank the light? Does any part of the flower's petals, stalk, or leaves-- That have turned richer shades of purples and greens-- Even know that it is gratitude that it perceives When in the sun's light it basks and beams? What if that flower knows and screamed An infinite shriek...

Equinox

Both of them an equinox, His pallid bones, her ivory blocks, Her ebony of solid wood, And his the darkness he'd withstood. His heart on every line he rained And out shed music from her veins. None knows, observing her with him, Where her blood ends and his begins. Sharesies!

On Turtleback Lane

“Storm’s over, Girlie,” He hath said to me. “Thunder’s shook and passed you, Sugar; Our promises We keep.” “We opened your chest And poured you full of what We wilt. Then, by and by, We made sure you landed Well within the rye.” “Don't think that the rye fields are safe for good,” He continued...

Palomitas for the Pasture?

They. Those. I see them. I see them, too, as do you. Those fleeting enticements Of the eye, (the glassy surface of the eye). In this garden of love Those peacocks sure do come a'callin'. But they aren't peacocks. They are palomitas. Ain't never goan be nothing but Palomitas Which offer no sustenance, No turbulence...

Five Things We Should Have Done

1 Greeted a family That immigrated to this country, But we did not know they were coming 2 Greeted the needle That brought protection into our bodies By means of vaccine, But we were too busy pleading About a temporary sting And the terror from our ignorance of things 3 Welcomed the flood and the...

Maybe, When it Ends

Maybe it will rise in the west, The sun that is, On some given day. After that, maybe the moon will split in two And its halves will be consumed Into the staggering belly of the sun. Will the affluent then disperse To their fallout shelters, Their concrete playpens? Will those be of any use...

Things I’d Tell Each Person, Eye-to-Eye, If I Could or Water Affirmations

Ripple. A pinch or pound, your worth I found. On the matter of your appearance, I will find beauty, less of bounds. About something, your wisdom sound. Babble. I enjoy things of your personality. Your voice is for hearing and your writing for reading. I believe that you are capable of learning things new, on...