Reflection

She was a 16 year old girl

in the farmhouse bathroom.
Her plowing finished for the day. 

The 3 step process is complete. 
Shampoo, rinse, condition
to dilute the smell of farm animals. 

Later, a boy buried his face in that thick mane.

Now, years later
in that same bathroom
she sees the ghost of the girl
in silvery glass

She marvels at space, place and time passing.
She has finally met her self coming and going.
In the house of mirrors. 

On the Bone

Left side is weaker, can't hold as much

Right side is strong with muscle

And determined to solve and support

Right shoulder immobile

From carrying burdens
and being the cushion during 
night dreams and adventures. 

Left hand has a hard callous 

Just below the wedding ring

Softer now as years go by

Piece of plow steel got a win

against skin and bone
now a bump like a white marble
remembers that right leg. 

Left and right.
Both sides listen now. 

The Color of Storm

Purple soaked in black

intense little pansies flutter dark
in bright sunlight 

Iris flail, splay and wilt

indigo midnight dripping

inky stain down the vase.

No flat man made shade, crayon, paint, or dye

can ever come close to your intensity.

When I realized you were Mystery,
When I realized you were a longing

I found you in the night sky cuddling a full moon.

I found you in the fallen crow feather.

I  opened  with deep longing

layered with slight sadness.

When I am old, bring me blackberries from the woods.

I will smash them between my fingers

staining my skin the color of storm.

. 

A Hurricane and a Snake

Sandy was coming. Witch from the South.

I watched the vortex on the television

As her center passed over my house.

That round and round and upside down

shifted energy.

The night of the storm and rain

a small snake curled in the basement

hiding in a rolled rug. 

Sandy's circles of wind whirled and swirled

commanding spirits of the air. 

I was headed east and she sent me west

Wizard of Oz style.

Can a whirlwind carry God's voice?

Within minutes from the sky

Came a new direction and message.

Drive, meet me there at that sweet spot.

Five women brought to the Ohio river

by reasons we're not believing.

Walk with the ancestors, harps playing

Strange events, unknown, unexplained

call forth amazing grace.

Maybe this was how the world was made

from a point of chaos stirred and rotated

in a master plan not visible to us

although we had a glimpse.

Dear Chickie

I open a can 

of chicken broth to complete

chicken supreme casserole

1 cup is all that's needed

and the can is half full

(or half empty)

dear chickie,

we put your life force in a can

and I casually pour

what is left

of your essence

down my sink

slightly sick at the thought

that I waste your gift. 

grandma

would have broke your neck. 

used your death water

used your neck, heart and liver

with a prayer. 

Skip Rope

Doors, ladders, steps, thresholds

I’m climbing crooked steps in these dreams
Or a ladder
Crawling up and clinging to the railing
There’s an opening, a space at the top
Where I have to reach and pull myself up
One leg hooked over a newel post
Like a little girl on the playground trapeze

I do go there, clinging in that space
So not to fall in the air

Doors, ladders, steps, threshold
The structure of openings in dreams and life

Jennifer asks me, what is the threshold?
It’s a line, a division
A stepping through place

A climb into the skyA point of entry and exit 
Depending on which direction I’m headed.
Between my house on solid ground
And crossing over 
To the liquid unknown

And I’ve been there 
And I know I can’t force it
Just step into the water

and trust
So I do a dance on the threshold
Like skipping rope

Watching for the opening

And the courage

To let go

Baby Book Says

Baby Book says:
Identification
Hand or footprints
Paste copy of prints here.

Tricky word, this Identification.
So this is how it starts
Little feet, little hands.
A piece of fine brown hair.

When I learned to say I
 It was like learning staccato. I, I, I.
No longer just toes and fingers
Now I want. I want. I want.

When I knew I had a name
It was like learning a bird call.
Other birds would shout it out
A million times a year.

The Night Sounds

I hear you keening in the woods,
two nights, three nights,
plaintive and primal. 

My bed is lit by the light of a laptop.
Your bed is lit by the moon. 

Between us is board and glass
once part of your trees and rock. 
Landscape with locks and windows. 

You are wildness, electric.

I shut my eyes and let your wail enter.
Sound penetrates everything
down to the core. 

The Lament Series

Cold French Fry

Do it all.
Be it all.
Just asking, does it have to be like this?
There's a cold french fry under the seat of my car.
I'm living the American Way.

Not at Home

I keep my phone on because I am afraid I'll miss you
I don't know you but you might need me

I can be reached on numbers,emails, twitters

I'm in a virtual world but never at home.

Doing

Can't Breath

My oxygen is low

Smothered by the blanket

Of

Doing

It covers me like

Spilled Ink

Runny darkness spreading to my edges

Covering my essence

Stealing my light

Dirty Thief

Wants more more more.

Continuum

I step on family graves with the wonder of what lies under,

tracing my finger around the curve of names carved in oh so

solid granite and earth that seems to hold everything below,

static and dense in darkness, but standing here is breath and air. 

Later along the river in strange formations,

water music had pounded gray rocks crossed with white veins

into bowls and cups brimming with crushed shells.

Small remnants of what seems to hold everything above

in some calcium offering of continuum, here, there, now, gone. 

Last night there were bones spread across dark earth,

smooth femurs and clavicles illuminating the landscape,

buried white gardens made visible in this one dream
full of radiance from bright stone in black sky.

As I curl up in a half moon with head on elbow 

I feel my oh so temporary self in skin, muscle, bone

beating heart, ancient bloodline pulsing as
soft feathers touch me lightly.