we'll never escape
the "boot straps" mentality
or fix these numbers
Without Vaccines
we'll never escape
the "boot straps" mentality
or fix these numbers
we'll never escape
the "boot straps" mentality
or fix these numbers
from prom to vaccine
in a short eight-hour night
(let science save us)



there's no heartbreak here
just my girl, eighteen years old,
ready to face them

sneakers underneath
(pandemic proms are outdoors,
under tents, in grass)

she's taller, braver.
in her silver floor-length gown,
she masters the night

and aren't we a crowd?
this master-mix of humans,
standing on these rocks?

unsinkable us
right below the Molly Brown
(ready to swim. Win.)
graduating girl
ready to face the world
one ray at a time



vaccines could save us
(yet not from the ignorance
spread without needles)

though the frost persists spring pushes its petals through filled with rays of hope


snowy petals fall
as spring goslings first appear
(seasoned mockery)


is this for me, Mom?
the perfect kitty setting
for my striped haunches

rainy Mother's Day
(cantaloupe aches for planting)
my babies: plants, pets


crabapple blossoms
create a cute kitty cave
on a cool May morn
