Blink

Cancer strengthens hold.
You weaken each day.
I cannot live without you.
I scream, rage, cry.
I cannot live without you.  

Blink

You grab me hard, hold
me eyes to eyes to soul..
You will if you have to.
And I know this is true.
And this truth holds. 

Out of Drought

Out of Drought

Exceptional drought
all June, all July.
burn bans in August.
Field lies brown,
flowerless, absent
chorus of frog song.
Scorched grass
scratches legs.
Sun cracks earth.

Night of September first,
single thunder storm,
lasts only one hour.
Come sunrise field
glistens white with
fresh congregation
of glorious rain lilies
Sometimes regeneration
doesn''t take much.

Stories Unbidden

Darkened theater
in Aurora exploded
like shattered heads
into thousands of
unwelcome stories
Life plans spattered
like arterial blood.
Nothing is the same.
Evangelists tell us
God was not in the
theatre because we
ban him from schools.
Cell phones ring in
dead kids pockets,
will ring for months.
Freshmen in college
dorms will get new
room mate assignments..
Never will know why.
Mothers will struggle
for words to describe
fathers kids won't
remember. He went 
to see  Dark Knight
Rises and a  crazy
man shot him and
he died, but he
always got garlic
butter on his popcorn
and  he loved you.
Kids will wonder if
the killer saw himself
as a dark knight.
Parents and husbands
will go through closets
and tell themselves
stories about what
their child or wife
would want them
to save to remember.
Friends will make
up stories about how
their friends felt when
the dark exploded,
about who froze and
who was brave.. I will
have to decide whether
to say yes to next teen
plea for midnight movie
based on the stories I
tell myself about madness
and chance and what
happened in Aurora..

Reprieve

Wisdom weighs heavy,
Colors  how we live
build, love, destroy, die.
Silences impulse to
grasp, hurt, boast,  flee.
maximizes love's glow.

Nonsense offers reprieve.
No pressure to believe.
No need to doubt
Wild winged horses,
Swiss cheese moon,
Pot of rainbow gold .

This short poem was written for Poets United Vice/Versa, where the four words to use in your writing were the antonyms doubt & believe and the antonyms wisdom & nonsense. 

Avalanche Lily (for Heidi)

If cancer isn't an avalanche, what is?
Crazy cascade of cells crushing out life.
Path of mestasis, Path of avalanche,
lies unstable, mined with looming danger.
The miracle is she smiles, remembers
a birthday, bakes a pie, dances in the wood.
Avalanche lily, she blooms where she must
and teaches me to put down roots,send up
shoots no matter how uncertain the soil.

She Worries

At sixteen she worries
her boy friend's friend
and her best friend will
break each other's hearts.
She worries her breasts
too small, her nose too big.
She worries who will die
next and when and how,
She worries her top doesn't
go with her jeans, her  dad
will  drive drunk, kill someone,
kill himself, marry a woman
who doesn't like his kids.
She worries she will fail
chemistry, blow out her knee
she won't get the solo or she will.
She worries she will disappoint.
She worries she will get hurt.
She worries she will hurt others.
At sixteen she wories.


 

Slippery

Friendship is slippery.
Got to chalk my hands,
Hold fast. I want it simple,

Tell all, share all, know all.
Doesn't work even when we try.
Words cast confusing shadows

I  only know what I hear
not all you work to tell me
even if you tell everything.

You  only see what you see
not all I'd die for you to know
even if I strip off my last mask.

Fragile and imperfect we
hold hands on the narrow bridge
over chasm of isolation.

Hold fast. It isn't simple.
Please chalk your hands.
Friendship is slippery.

I'd Rather

I'll sleep safe in my glass slipper.
Screaming through the door
can't shatter me with fairy dust
on my pillow and if you put your
hand between my legs my unicorn
will kick you and carry me away.
I'd rather turn into a pumpkin
than let you under my covers again.

This was written for the 'daydream believers' prompt Mary Mansfield gave over at Poetry Jam. I didn't expect to go to dark protective daydreams, but I did.  This one isn't autobiographical.

Mistake

When I believe I know in advance
what is significant, I look for that,
forget to observe what you do and say,
ingnore the essence of your message 
dismiss as trivial your most precious truth.

Written for Poets United Vice / Versa where the antonyms to be used are trivial/significant and observe/ignore

Demarcation

Twenty six years ago this moment,
you opened your blue eyes
looked up at me and died.
It was that simple.
You died.
I lived.
It was that simple
That moment sliced my life
clear from the future we planned,
Stranded me alone on uncharted ground.

Case for Forgiveness

I have hurt you.
You have hurt me.
It will happen again,
Only with remorse,
Only with  forgiveness,
Can human love hold.

Luxury

Lack stiffens back.
Proud masks shame
covers hurt, shuts heart..

Abundance opens.
Humble is luxury
allowed by love.

This was written for  Poets United Vice / Versa  where the antonyms to use were humble / proud & abundance / lack.