Filling up
all the vases
in my changing spaces
like I have a secret
admirer, but,
it’s me.
I’m addicted to
The Flower Shop Down the Street
and the cobblestone
that rattles from head to toe;
more suited for mules
than horsepower.
the sky above remains the same
even when
my skin sheds completely
every 7 years.
I regenerate slowly
extracting the pieces of you
from my sky
while I hold hands with the ground
and watch the palm trees blow
in the sky
laying in the sun
listening to Billie Holiday and Friends
wondering how
I ever thought my heart
was complete without this moment
and there are no traces of
you here
but I still wonder what dream
I’m living in
as I hold hands with the ground
and watch the sky sway with the breeze
just as I do,
reflecting,
just as I do
existing with the
soundtrack of Billie Holiday and Friends and sirens and birds,
just as I do.
Even the trees
are too cold to shiver.
Silently still
until a burst of
wind reminds you
it’s a window
and not a painting
until you realized
everything is freezing
(as if you are moving
toward the center
of time to stand still forever)
and out there everything inches
toward standing still
until it’s time for growth.
I wish I could
bring in the many landscapes
and offer them a warm place
to rest until
they were ready
to be warm again on their own.
But you are a landscape
and I am a person,
and this is real
–not a painting
as the window would
have me believe.
The snow flutters
to remind me there
is air here.
Nearly frozen air.
Even gravity
needs a break
somedays.
the world has been watching
US, we
have been watching us.
and now
we have
Representation.
Diversity.
Hope.
The Work is
not
done.
but the
H o p e
in it all
has been
Revived
after 4 long years.
we have been watching,
we have been
voting,
you have been telling us to
“Smile” because
we “look prettier
that way.”
Now,
here we are,
smiling–
and yet
you don’t seem
to think we’re
pretty at all.
You should
really
Smile, you
look nicer
that way.
Or maybe you
should just
get out.
Vote your
heart out,
make the change.
Let’s welcome US
to the 21st century.
Let’s welcome
US, all
of US,
in our new home for the first time.
It’s okay it’ll
take some time
to get used to,
we’ll figure out the Joy
along
the way.
