friendship

Devoured

/ lovizmytrio / 1 Comment

how to feed six children:
mix one pound of beef,
one pound of pasta,
a giant jar of tomatoes,
two cups of white sauce,
a few kid-friendly spices,
and place it on the table.

fifteen minutes later,
after firsts and seconds are devoured,
put in a movie and wait.
they’ll wander into the kitchen
one at a time,
begging to be fed again.

get out the half gallon
of ice cream and
place it on the table.
five minutes later,
after firsts and seconds are devoured,
brush their teeth and put them to bed.

when the sun rises,
repeat,
repeat,
repeat.

Always

/ lovizmytrio / Leave a comment

what words can i say
twelve hundred miles away?
you are still the girl
with the giant bubble in your mouth,
the sprayed-up bangs
and over-sized boys’ sneakers.
aren’t you?

now a mother like me
a young mother of three
and your pain hides behind your words
just as i hide mine in these poems.
will it wait there,
hidden in scripted messages,
until someone with the right
encryption has the power to release it?

what can i say
twelve hundred miles away?
these words are too late
for amends and lost time.
but i will still put them here
for you to remember the childhood
we shared, the happiness
that hides behind the words,
that, just like the pain,
will find its way out,
ready to release you
into the person you have always been
and always will be.

The Market

/ lovizmytrio / Leave a comment

it’s still here
this place i knew
where last i came
under these same sparkling
rays of light
as a teenager with friends
where we bought coffee
and chocolate
shipped in from Vermont
where we sat in
these same heart-shaped
wire-backed
uncomfortable wooden chairs
and laughed and laughed
and walked around
looking at expensive
hot cocoas
and liberal media magazines,
the same ones
that line the shelves this evening,
beer and dinner in our stomachs,
i fall in love all over again.

Culinary Orgasm

/ lovizmytrio / Leave a comment

Recipe for a happy Monday:
one witty email,
four friends,
twenty-two minutes,
two-day work week,
one cranberry-fudge pie
with graham cracker crust and
homemade cinnamon whipped cream:
one culinary orgasm.

Au Revoir

/ lovizmytrio / 2 Comments

you may as well be a ghost
because you’ve haunted me more than most.
why do i have to see you here
when i’m surrounded by holiday cheer?

you’re embarrassed, though you won’t admit it
it is not my sin that you committed.
if you disliked the person you came to know
then why did you put on such a show?

i don’t edit, though it’s caused me pain
at least i’m real; you’re filled with shame.
perhaps those who love me are few and far
but at least i know how to say au revoir.

Offstage

/ lovizmytrio / Leave a comment

I’m still here
though only a shadow
of who you think you know.

i’ve shined my light
a bit too bright
so i think i’ll step offstage.

it’s comfortable here
behind these velvet curtains
i’m not questioned, not uncertain.

but i see you trying to peek,
wondering how i learned to be meek.
what i learned instead? how to be me.

Layers

/ lovizmytrio / Leave a comment

I am in a hollow now
wishing it weren’t so damp
the wind beating at my branches
as i reach for warmth

instead i double up my layers
like a bear fattening for winter
making my insular depth
as welcoming as the wind will allow.

there’s time to think, to look at
the small ones surrounding me
more closely, to hear the silence that
plays behind the gales’ haunting chords.

perhaps i have chosen this place,
perhaps it has chosen me. but i
will wait until i hear more than silence.
i will wait until i hear peace in my heart.

Ode to Facebook

/ lovizmytrio / 1 Comment

i should be you for Halloween
because you make me question myself
hiding them
hiding me
being me
removing them
them removing me

enough already.
let me be who i am
and if they can’t handle it
if I can’t handle it
then we’ll call it a truce
and fuck this Facebook shit.
OK?

Ache

/ lovizmytrio / Leave a comment

i reached out my hand
(could have touched your shoulder)
but you shimmied away
(the invitation lost in your hollow eyes)

the words sat on the tip of my tongue
waiting for your beckoning call
but you didn’t reach
and i was afraid to bring them forth

your song played twice in my ears
as i pedaled home. you will never know
how much it makes me cry, how you
are in my aching heart when i hear it.

but we are separate now. and you
will never quite forgive my choice
just as i could never quite forgive
those aching moments that i sat there.

i reached out my hand
(i could have touched your shoulder)
and i am waiting here now,
the words caught (captive) in my throat.

someday you will define this for them
(this time i won’t hear your explanation).
but i will wish i could be there, captive,
so that your fingers could touch mine,
so that your ache is my ache, our ache.

Cheer

/ lovizmytrio / Leave a comment

lights blindingly bright
beer bottles crashing in bins
standing in waves of delight
jubilant cheers, moans of chagrin

crack of the bat against leather
sand-dusted bottoms of pants
hands together, apart, together
disco’s crowd-pleasing chants

surrounded by America’s pastime
you beep me with your newsflash
and i cheer, my heart sublime
for the best home run of this bash.