“Afternoon Craving”
dumb tortilla chips
you don’t even taste that good
I just like the salt
(well, and have no self control
but that’s neither here nor there)
#1827
2
Category Archives: poetry
#1816
More beautiful than Lucifer and twice as mad;
my feral lover, serpent-tongued.
#1811
“Prophetic”
I dreamed last night you set yourself free
bursting through the door of your cage
(which had never been locked, only latched)
a phoenix rising from ashes to firestorm
and your glory melted that cage down to a puddle
so you could never be caught again.
#1810
they cast me into the sea
left me for dead and rotting
but the sea wrapped me in her embrace
rebirthed me as her daughter own
and I rose again with fins
and scales
and so many teeth
#1805
What’s in a name? That which we call Rosa
by any other name would smell as sweet.
And yet we give each of a hundred species a name
and a name to each of a thousand cultivars.
Would you deny Rosa persica its singular title
or call Rosa canina Rosa kordesii?
Would you claim there’s no difference
between the homes of Rosa carolina and Rosa chinensis
or the thorns of Rosa acicularis and Rosa sericea?
The humble rose is no less lovely with one name or another
yet we honor the beauty of difference with the blessing of language.
If we can give each bud a family, genus, subgenus, and species
can we not respect the names with which our fellow humans define themselves?
Are we not worthy of the same deference as the smallest rose?
[ Written for the August 2016 Carnival of Aces. ]
#1804
“Enheduanna”
four millennia stretch between us
you with your reed stylus
I with my ink and keyboard
four millennia ago, the goddess whispered in your ear
four millennia later, the dark gods whisper in mine
we are not so different, you and I
we are not so different, you and I
with our poetry and our pleading
our devotion and determination
your words reverberate in my chest
your heartbeats echo through the ages
I pray mine stand the test of time
#1803
“Sinister is Saintly”
the walls are ashes
they’re looking for you
peace, peace, peace
in the starred ceiling
you’re not lost but wandering
They are with you
we are with you always
peace in your compass
solace in your vein
