Cicada

you own the night with your voice
drumming our flesh with city vibes

the moon beds you with starlight 
& silverdust, we turn to moonflowers

yet your eyes are bright sun-
flowers even when your bones

are weary, your breasts are heavy
with scars, still

your words are warm honey
& herbed tea, spooned by kindness  

as you watch over the vessel of your
bloodline & friends vine in tangled joy

now as our hands are weeping
we're also smiling with birdsongs of your memories

i breathe 
your spontaneity & zest for life

there are no black or white lines
only colors spilling out from pen & lens

rest in peace, friend



Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - OpenlinkNight.   Please join us when the pub doors open by 3pm EST.  This poem is in remembrance of my school mate who died this week.   

black clouds

charred earth, i return to you
my voice hoarse as wind
murmuring goodbyes you don't hear
a fireball caught me

as my voice, hoarse as wind
was silenced by explosion
a fireball caught me
how was i to know death came

silently, an explosion
the sky was burning river
how was i to know death came 
from clouds, black by silt and stones 

as the sky turned to burning river
murmuring goodbyes you don't hear
from clouds, black by silt & stones, to
charred earth, i return to you



Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - OpenLinkNight - Hosted by Kim Russell.   
This poem is written for those killed in the recent Ethiopian airline crash, that killed 157 people on board. "Some family members have been given charred earth from the crash site to help remember their loved ones."

may you see field of tulips on your journey

as lone sunflower
falls 

i inhale incense
as sky scoops back predicted 

rain, surging life, silk-spun fragile 
as budding white tulip

you're not storm
chaser, but peacemaker

staying close
to family's roots, tilling 

zen-inspired garden,
beading memoirs-

and now, pilgrim's traveller
on journey 

home 

Family Photo by Grace @Everyday Amazing

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub, Quadrille, hosted by Kim Russell.   This is a 44 word post with the chosen word "rain".   This photo is from the funeral of my sister 2 weeks ago and I can finally talk about it as a means of healing & moving on.   Thanks for your visit.

Unsettled artist visions of death

Photography by Ray Collins

Into the black waves, I would ride
In a single white boat 
My hands paddling the wooden oars
To the farthest point I see

Early morning is my time 
to submit to nature's will
My heart's a broken wheel
So faint, I am flat leaf

The sun is tugging a rope   
Pressing the weight of death
So deep onto my chest
I am a fragment

Knotted, undistinguished 
As shell bone or  sponge
Water rushes into my ears
I embrace brine & foam 

This sea & darkening sky
becomes a forest bed, I am
Giant kelp, floating mat
Letting the fish, sharks & lobsters 

Carry me forth, cell after cell
Weed upon weed, I say
To all living creatures
Take every part of me as food

And multiply in ignorance*


*Line and verses inspired by Unsettled Motorcyclist Visions of His Death by Thom Dunn

Posted for Imaginary Garden with Real Toads - Inspired by poems of Thom Dunn
and Poets United - Thanks for the visit ~