Take a Bite

faith is found in food
 connecting cultures, caring:
 life’s love remedy
 

Coup d’Etat

who is this traitor
sitting in my mother’s chair
where we were once queens?

Checking Off

we could predict life
 by list banalities
 that make up our days
 

I Thought the West Was Left

never thought i’d hear
 Ivanka in the west wing–
 demagogue ruler
 
 
 

Game of Thrones

queens of the castle
 reign over new recliner
 cause cats run the show
 

Climate Reality

summer has arrived
 and is melting all the snow
 stealing our winter
 

Recovery

Percocet nightmare
 worse than any surgery
 (pain outruns nausea)
 
 
 

Shards

an afternoon wind
 blew in a flurry of texts
 and opened this door–
 
 it knocked down a glass
 from our dishwasher-less rack
 (because all things break)
 
 it sent me spinning
 on my endless carpool trip
 (keeping up with kids)
 
 the sun was shining
 on my student-made pastry,
 unaware of shards.
 
 i swept up pieces,
 circled back to get daughter
 and wash more dishes.
 
 baklava melted
 like rays of afternoon sun
 in each of our mouths
 
 (a reminder that
 gusts of wind, circling drives
 are just shards of days)
 

Cheers to Tears

on Monday, a beer
because the cafe was closed
and i needed one

it was a sports bar
and the tears she shed were mine
in goodbye moments

(i didn’t share them–
not then, not out on the street–
only in words. here.)

because i’ve been there.
we have all been there. mothers.
sisters. wives. children.

i should have seen it.
the comings, goings of days,
built on loss and fear.

her tears were my tears.
her daughters were my daughters.
we are all the same.

At Least There’s…

always a kitten 

to keep my toes warm at night

and my heart warm too