Saturday, September 27, 2014


Promise to Gabriella 
 
I promise your memory,
I will stop, listen deeper to
shadowed voices, whispers
that too much is too much.
 
I will stop, fight harder to
help families see that lives
hang in the space between
harsh words, hard choices.
 
I will stop, notice better
the white knuckles, barely
hanging on - I will offer net.
I promise your memory 

For Gabriella
 
Misery took you.
You could not abide.
Death looked better
than one more day.
You could not abide.
Music was not enough.
You could not abide.
Hope left you behind. 
You could not abide.
No solace sufficed.
Death looked better
than one more breath.
You could not abide.
misery took you.
 

 
Turning
 
When I don't change direction,
I get where I'm headed.
Least rotation of toes opens
Destinations unimagined.

Hunkered Down
 
Nightmare pictures
cross borders,
cross generations,
children hunkered down
when fists smash faces.
when bullets shatter glass,
when bombs explode homes.
May I never be too weary
to work for a world in which
no child must hunker down.

Pruning
 
Fancy was fun - back when
I bought towels to match tile
and added decorations to
each autumn holiday display.
I set the owl and bat on the
mantel just so, arranged acorns.
Fancy was fun - but now
I fancy plain again, refrain
from decoration, give away.
Fancy was fun.  Plain sustains.