century plant blooms once, celebrates with aplomb a round for the house
Tequila! – Mighty Agave
Red! I Want that Job – Kiss Me Now!
I'm not much one for make-up. Never have been really except perhaps for those early days of adolescence. When the discovery of blue eyelids and long lashes had a timely empowering factor. I could change how I looked, quite dramatically, or subtly. But I had that power. And I was something. It was that simple. I... Continue Reading →
‘This Dress,’ and Other Musings on Motherhood
This Dress It doesn't fit, Mom this dress, your death it's like a net, in satin wrapped around me, I'm trapped in this collar, I flounder I can't get it right it's not my size I wish I was naked and you had your breath. It's a straight jacket in black, I'm crazy like burlap,... Continue Reading →
‘Ma,’ No Now, No Next
Drums that Heal No now, no next. Ma. Who knew that on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in the Flagstaff Public Library, I would find the word I needed to capture my current state of affairs, and from Taiko drummers at that. Five performers pounding out their hearts, and pounding right into mine. This group's performance... Continue Reading →
Celebrating Smart Women
for my girls, even Riana, who doesn't like poetry The Cranberry Line Follow the cranberry line of dawn, go home reach far, the moon is only a lost star looking for sunrise, for the saffron tide; waves like Aurora’s children on the verge of morning, stretch and rub their eyes. Be a poet. Be that... Continue Reading →
“Do You Pray?” – a reflection on angels, in-laws, and holy stores, with a bit of chocolate cake thrown in for good measure
for Kay McKay I wondered today how long it takes for someone to become an angel. Is it instantaneous? Now you're dead, now you're an angel? Is there a waiting period? A series of hoops and steps and paperwork to get desensitized from life and ready for death. Like an immigration process? A job interview? Is... Continue Reading →
Gray Choices
Gray Choices I come from the dry cleaners chemical steam staining my shallow breath like my brother’s ashes that cannot stay on the mantle watching us wondering where to put them I come from the tulip garden tall stems like picket fences that need painting petals drop and rest in dirty sunshine sullen remnants of the bloom... Continue Reading →
Roots, Worms, and Blossoms: for Maureen
Roots, Worms, and Blossoms How will the promise of age rest upon my skin? As it does the forgotten apple? The sad Macintosh left under a tree withered and no good for a pie? Will time brand me with pinches smudge my shiny skin and deplete my rightful size? Or will I be the old... Continue Reading →
‘Protecting Women,’ a found poem, Aisle 7, Walgreens
This is one of my favorite performance pieces, and while I haven't performed it in a while, my daughter Riana and I were in Walgreen's recently, and it came to mind, so I pulled it out, and thought I'd share. Imagine me on a stage, wearing a pink pussy hat, of course. There would be... Continue Reading →
Stuff
I am equally embarrassed, and fortunate, to be the owner of all my stuff. A woman in transition, I have spent the first four months of this year looking at it. Sorting, choosing, remembering, cleaning, tossing, and ultimately, keeping. Some things anyway. Now that I think about it, this process began most seriously ten years... Continue Reading →
pocket poet 