Greetings, dear readers! I missed National Poetry Month but I still wanted to share some of the poetry and haiku that moved through me during the month of April. It was a revelatory month for me (I mean, there’s 2 poems here about mango green tea!), and I hope it was for you as well.
Enjoy!
1
all trauma is the
misbelief that you are no
longer innocent
2
give love indiscriminately
to the extent it can be received
3
i fell in love with
the brunette & her loud little dog
this morning
4
the way your hair sways
& your shirt lifts when you reach –
even the way your muscles
move under your skin –
reminds me of her
& proves we never lose anything
5
spent condom sits in metal
can that once held candle
“first date” – its scent
tobacco & cinnamon
i say when i die
you’ll know i’m near
when you smell cinnamon
but you’re not here to hear
6
i’m riding the bus downtown &
noticing things i’ve forgotten to
like how arby’s now sells boneless wings
& faux frost still clings to miracle’s windows
it’s like when you stop ruminating
you don’t even notice when thoughts go
because your brain gets filled
with the thoughts you want to have
not thoughts of alternate bus routes
or how we’ll never share curly fries again
7
overthinking blocks the Thought:
salvation & forgiveness are the same
8
if to give & to receive
are the same in truth
then i’m glad i can finally give
all that i received from you
it’s just unfortunate
i couldn’t until you left
9
are you beautiful
or are you just another
slender brunette in a
shirt the color of sky
not today’s sky –
haze still hangs high
is it just your skin
like predawn snowfall
or that each finger
nail is a different color
purple, pink, green, yellow, blue
again, not unlike your shirt
i fall in love until you pull
the yellow cord & get off the bus
10
you always love yourself
it’s just that
sometimes
ego gets in the way
11
your hair stuck to stubble –
remembering how
intimate hugs can be
12
i don’t want to write
a poem about you
i want to write about
the sycamore instead
& the God inside
& the God in everything
everywhere
in me & you
but i don’t want to write
a poem about you
because that’s common
& quotidian
& could be filled with
empty platitudes
but my words are magic
these are the Thoughts i share
with Infinite Intelligence –
with God
so i’ll let those Thoughts
come thru my pen
& maybe it’s the full moon
& maybe it’s the needles
in my feet & legs
& stomach
or maybe it’s the sycamore
holding me up
but i feel sturdy
rooted fast to the earth
& it might be the God in me
Who wants to be sturdy for you
but i don’t want to write
a poem about you
14
how will i fit in
your life when you barely fit
in these syllables
15
youth –
that’s all this is
immature
unsure
youth
is this only in humans
this uncertainty
babes born to mother earth
are not so unsure
even baby humans
take their first steps
with unbridled belief
so why can’t you?
why can’t i?
maybe i misread
maybe i mislead
maybe i was unsure
but no more
to expect love
to be returned equally
is immature
equal implies unequal
& love is limitless
to whit
it comes back
because it never left
unreturned love
is not love lost
it’s just a package
not yet arrived
eventually
you will open
the heavy door
disguised as a body
& let love in
16
you cannot hold more
space than someone is willing
to hold for themselves
17
from hanover & emerald
clouds lay their shadow
over the southside
17
Margeaux asks
where do you hold hope in your body?
it hides behind worry
& something in my stomach
gurgles in agreement
even now the black hole in my heart
pushes hope down
down
away from the Light
until i remember
i don’t have to breathe into the black hole
i can breathe around it
or behind it
or under it
or if i’m really present
i remember the only i
holding onto that black hole
is the little i –
the tiny mad idea
i created when i forgot what hope was
& a dog barks somewhere –
“& heaven & nature sing”
& a serenade of sirens
reminds me i’m trying too hard
doing too much
& that black hole
has become a black mass
that just sits
where my sternum ends
(or maybe it’s just
the carrots & hum
mus i knew i shoul
dn’t have eaten &
now i’m thinking a
bout shame with f
ood & know that’s
off-prompt & it’s an
ineffective thought
& just how long is
8 minutes anyway?)
breathe
remember you can always breathe
maybe there’s a metaphor here
maybe someone wrote it better –
Naomi Shihab Nye, maybe
& the dead Indian
on the side of the road
maybe hope was
“the simple breath that kept him alive”
19
mango green tea
iced at two sisters –
would that this sip last forever
20
mint leaf smiles
as i sip & i
remember Unity
& almost weep
to say God is in
this mango green tea
is ridiculous
unless you understand
21
sitting with my father’s
headstone knowing he is
one with God again
22
othering again
at national cemetery
of the alleghenies
wondering what they’re saying
to their dearly departed
do they see Unity & Oneness
like i know you are part of now
or do they still hold grievances
like i’m learning to let go
would that april’s last sun
shine on the Self inside
that they would understand
holding grievances
blocks the Light in them
23
strange –
the ego cannot know itself
because it is an illusion
24
understand
no body can limit
what God created limitless
Have a wonderful Wednesday, dear readers. Get out and let the sun shine on your lil faces!