like a shade of dawn
originally published in Libretto Magazine in shadow the glow is soft in sunlight it’s hard candy a room in a house through trees with a purple-pink light you can’t read by it draw by it knit a sweater or darn a sock you can lie, though, surrounded by how it makes you feel which is […]
Two Poems in Honor of National Poetry Month – April 2021
if the sky won’t have me originally published in FEED issue 2.2 the rain makes a river of the road rushing rivulets, eddies all aswirl it goes where gravity takes it & gathers in a low point, getting deeper & wider as the storm fails to relent i step into the river, reluctantly at first […]
Girl With The Broken Back
originally published in Feminine Collective See how she scuttles across the floor The cold tile numbs, then burns Her palms, knees, shins All portions of flesh pressed on The harder thing—the hardest thing Not cursed yet— —Soon Then there’s this back The thing that holds her together The thing she’s built around Grew up around […]
Evolutionary Process
originally published in don’t die press Fire eats the forest Evergreens turn to ash Water chokes the canyon Slopes fall under mud Wind inhales the neighborhood Throws rafters to the ground A woman gives her body out of hunger for the touch Her private land is fertile where scattered seeds are sown […]
What We Talk About When We Watch The Handmaid’s Tale
originally published in Feminine Collective What if my dystopia is your heaven, my utopia your hell? We’re not on the same page, darling May I still call you that? You said it could never happen here Isn’t that what the Germans said of Hitler? Where did they think his anti-Semitic rants would lead? Darling, […]
You Made The World
originally published in Feminine Collective Agony—a gone knee Can’t bend—no way to mend This isn’t about aging—maybe about raging What stops the crazy rhyme-time? Unplug the clock Blind its ruby face Tear your eyes out if you must Choke on dust There I go again, too easy This lilting rhythm and sound Trapped by […]
when a cliché
originally published in Q/A Poetry when a cliché, she’s wily, cunning, crazy as a fox in her foxy coat made slyly of her own fur when not, she escapes the brush, crosses the road, cut by hunger’s knife to seek the fleeing prey when a cliché, the a gentleman farmer slows his […]
Sailing Off The Edge of The World
originally published in 34THParallel Magazine All my life I knew one day I’d sail off the edge of the world Into the mouth of a smiling dragon That’s me on that painted Medieval ship Canvas billowing Men pulling the ropes in terror STOP! But the world is flat & the wind has its way […]
Nina’s Dream
originally published in Lamplit Underground NINA’S DREAM The left eye’s pupil is sluggish I’m not sure how much you can really see Please cover your right eye Now your left And, between the two? One clear, the other distorted One gives green only, the Other, red & green Like Christmas? […]
Politically Correct
originally published in Feminine Collective Who may tell her story? Who has earned the right? What if she’s come and gone? Has no tongue, no eyes, no hands? Must one wear her skin, eat from her bowl Fight nightmare’s demons on her sleeping mat just to feel the Rhythm of her heart? Aren’t we all […]