my puppy earns love
from every childhood friend
in our neighborhood

our dream puppy day
began with a Kansas drive
to find fluff sweetness

how perfect, Haitz
my Basque-inspired baby
who steals all our hearts

my empty nest dog
without any teenage sass
just love, puppy love

and you’d know better

when words–NAMES–form on your tongue

how to pronounce them

you would see the loss

in every pre-marked brick house

soon to be rubble

in just seventeen

you would learn word challenges

in our English tongue

to know how it hurts

you’d engulf in a venture

of second language

wildfire haze

makes a splendid sun event

even before dusk

film on the rocks date:
a weeknight scramble for food
before rush hour

on baby’s first day
of walking to seventh grade
to see Black Panther

every white person
sitting under this blue sky
has made this violence

it’s in every plot
every “love” vindication
every U.S. film

will there be a day
when we will glorify peace?
win power with peace?

i am still waiting
for a better power trip
that wins wars with love.

just outside of town
lies a cottonwood forest
with these mountain views:

walk past construction
pretend wealth doesn’t steal this
(if these bricks could stay)

just walk in the shade
away from the hot world
and breathe in nature

seven years hoping
he’d find a ride that fits him
so we could cycle

victory has come
a perfect twenty-year gift
to celebrate love