two-month countdown starts
pre-holiday pay knifing
how will we survive?
just as we once did:
a chef, errand-free weekends
(stay-at-home dad’s gifts)
two sides make all coins:
heavy sacrifice, workload
frantic rat race gone
we could count pennies
or we could count our blessings
we will see what counts
poorly-worded goal
provided by school district
let’s confuse students
find main idea,
three facts, underlying themes
cite text evidence
even in haiku
i clarify what they can’t
why are they in charge?
come home to harsh truths:
charter school rules, union blues
paradox, my life
my new objective:
theme that saves main idea
minus the details
(life is a challenge
of unplugged net books, low pay;
cite love to survive)
one outlandish class
topped with broken promises
bring me my weekend
with stressed frustration
my mother’s voice comes through mine
i’m a child again
only now? my girl
is the brunt of my anger
yet she bounces back
resilience through love
something i was missing then
my mom aches to fix
life’s a big regret
played out in haunted voices
singing us to sleep
once my side of town
now the other side of death
my heart aches for you
white clown suit darkness
metaphor for life we live
hidden in darkness
how he played guitar
for my beautiful best friend
for my soul sister
i am a true friend
because my love never stops
my love never stops
it starts with the truth
the truth of that death moment
when you were reborn
when i cried for you
you hate to cry publicly
even for our love
spotlight on darkness
as bright as mansions’ windows
or September rain
either way, we love
living for the dark secrets
while god drives us home
start and end with work
how ungodly my Sunday
blessings everywhere
painted face friends grin
i enjoy two thirds of joy
my kids everywhere
from Iraq, Burma
Eritrea, refugees
whose faces aren’t here
i guide them with words
never as harsh as a mom
because they’ve suffered
my girls? only joy
bestowed on Americans
with rich white privilege
no way to explain
my work-fair-filled church-less day
may God bless us all
a three-foot hallway
blanket, last year’s science boards
fort made of magic
here we play cadoo
spin tales with pictures and acts
clinging to our youth
she begs to cuddle
as morning melts into noon
always my baby
we play piano
i grade, then guide her through math
later, a hike fight
sun swallows the creek
as they beg back summer swims
but leaves are gold-tipped
the baby departs
we have our own sleepover
with love, city lights
they spin spaghetti
dance beside beer cyclists
here we fall for fall
should have known better
taught the oldest to shave legs
sis shaved off eyebrow
parenthood surprise
mushroom tag and night riding
her shame forgotten
watching them grow up
better than the science fair
lab filled with laughter
world of escape
found with taste of native tongue
were they even trapped?
you demand rigor
i serve it up, fully cooked
and yet, i get baked
i prefer full bites
not watered-down salt swallows
burnt ineptitude
i’d make an omelette
or black brownies you’ve turned down
but why waste the taste?
full on tongue, this love
so salt-sweet you’d live for it
as i do for them
but, let’s have plain eggs.
brownies too dark for breakfast?
how fast you break me
environs burning
a newly bright beginning
but are you two-faced?
will you sell my soul for yours?
beautiful, that face of yours
my girl as witness
to the only one i trust
how she knows my heart
i stand in ashes
created by betrayal
all the years back, us
how you’d turn that pretty face
and become the enemy
but leaves are falling
and i crunch my way back home
you’ll never hear it
half-circle of chairs
watching dog-walkers pass by
we munch our minions
share the glory of our days
glory be home to our days
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