my summer review
reveals courage from within
found along The Road
The Road
my summer review
reveals courage from within
found along The Road
strength
D & F Tower
As stated matter-of-factly
hundreds of times, this tower
(brick-not-steel, pointed
and dominant) was the tallest
building in Denver when
at age twenty-one, like the
pioneers two generations back
(two generations back from me)
my great-aunt Frances walked
through downtown (1937)
We enter it for the first time in
my life tonight, year twelve of
our young marriage. “Finally,”
you say, “something you haven’t
already done,” opening the door for me.
Did she see it? Painted crown molding
on the ceilings, intricately laid
white marble (smooth and cool
against the skin on a summer night),
architecture from a bygone era.
Would she care about the cabaret
burlesque show that emanates from
the basement stairwell? Or did she know,
with her domineering, independent shoes
that carried her here from Kansas,
that, just like the steel-concrete-glass
skyscrapers that have tried to trump this,
it still stands in a changing world,
here we stand in a changing world,
its strength (our strength) unwilling to give up
its place in the heart of the city (of love).
Wash
with water everything is pure
from sandy shores to lakes demure
it washes off and cools us down
and shatters each internal frown
with water we wash out the weak
replacing it with a stronger streak
of life that breeds within the deep
bringing forth the hope we need to keep
with water we have a clearer light
on days that inevitably end in night
it guides us there and guides us back
and washes out what once was black.
Find What’s Inside You
find what’s inside you to get you there
a song, a thought, a love, a prayer
it could be anything to keep you going
hiding in your legs without you knowing
find what’s inside you to get you there
find the inner strength you thought was rare
because once you delve in there’s no stopping
the courage it takes to keep you from dropping
find what’s inside you to get you there
the place in your soul without compare
you won’t regret this ache, this choice
that answers to your inner voice.
In This Moment
in this moment
I can find the pace I need to get me there stronger
Mythili can “read” a whole page in her elaborate story
Riona can say “I wuv you” seven times
Isabella can brush her top teeth by herself
and someone on the other side of the world
or right across town
is giving birth to a perfectly healthy baby
while another lost soul is pointing a gun to his head
in this moment
I can hear Alanis Morisette motivating my pedals
my students can see twenty pictures on Google
of the cedar trees they’ve never heard of
the teachers can track me down for brownies
and someone right across town
or on the other side of the world
is pounding a woman’s skull into the drywall,
while another is handing a ten-year-old his first pair of shoes.
in this moment
I will live
I will love
I will remember what I have
what we all have
(somewhere within us)
Sovereignty
If you tease me with this for long
I fear that you will guide me wrong—
inside my veins the blood burns hot
inside my brain images rot
Soothing as you appear to me
stinging my recent memory
you give much less than what you take
and haunt the hallows in your wake
I do not know why you appear
and in my thoughts are always near
you are a debt as Dunbar states
one who at no time hesitates
To remind me of your cruelty
your lack of faith, your sovereignty—
but I will not give in to you
for him, our love, I will cut through.
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