i am

the word & phrase you write in every poem
the pathway, streets and city you live since you were born
the plate, cup, brew, spice, food you eat 
the hat, purse, coat, shirt, shoes that you wear
the wheel, hub, spokes, transmission that you ride
the book & tenets you read at night

the only key in your pocket
you carry wherever you go
not pricky, not heavy, not strange
just comfortable weight in your hands & eyes

i would have love to peek at other people's windows
& admire their paintings, chairs, photos, bookshelves
but alas 
i remain
your blind spot




Posted for dVerse Poets Pub- OpenLinkNight - Hosted by Bjorn Rudberg.  Please join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.   dVerese will be in summer hiatus and will come back on July 13, 2020.   Thanks for your visits and comments.

siren

between the sea and shoreline
white foam of blue waves echo

ocean's murmurings to the sky
shells open & birds with new

wings venture to taste the brine
above the reef in blue-green lake

here, death is clawing at each breath
here, life is rising under rocks & bones

a mermaid's wild tales
of missing treasures, sunken ships, lost

cities, treasures & jewelries makes
my head spin 

what secrets the ocean keeps in its 
darkness (we may never know)

but this I know
(&believe)

I stretch my hands outward as horizon
quivers, shimmers with coral pink sun

I am the siren,
I am the song
as the storm rises on my tongue



Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Hosed by De Jackson, Sounding the Siren.

Please join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.   Also dVerse will be on summer hiatus for 2 weeks after our OLN on June 25th and we will reopen on July 13, 2020.

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.   

summer flowers

the summer heat
dries the dandelions to white whiskered heads

peppermint leaves scatter
their fragrances across fences & empty husks

lilacs and forget-me-nots 
are swaying to blues, bees & birdsongs

my room is filled with long
fingers of the sunrays & wheat grass 

i drink the darkness
at last, slurping its cold sweet juice

the moon is young
flower breaking out from its silver seed

with the stars & bright planets in sky
my dreams are teal, my words are nectar




Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - OpenlinkNight.   Join us when the pub doors open by 3pm EST.  Thanks for the visit.

language of pandemics

i paint

our words to be a virus
our words to be a vaccine

our words to be host cell 
our words to be N95 mask

whether you are asymptomatic
or symptomatic, our doorways are alike

from graffitied city streets
to funeral parlors with 10 chairs

let's socially distance
via zoom meeting with sun-

flowers stuck in our hair-
sending crownlit poems from our windpipes-





Posted for dVerse Poets Pub -About Portals, hosted by Anmol (HA).
Thanks for the visits and comments.

summer nights

i taste the skin
from summer fruit
the juice sticky

on my lips  
as sliver of light
glaces the room

you are fixated:
crystals & mirrors

or is it
murmurings of trees 
you hear

pressing on
& on

i gulp down 
2 red pills




Posted for dVerse Poet Pub- Quadrille hosted by De Jackson.   This is a 44 word post, with the given word, FIX.  Thanks for your comments & visits.

for curbside delivery

under the wave of writing
fog, i set an alarm:   to persuade
believers,
invisible enemies in
Stalin's Court of Red Tsar,
the spies in Hitler's inner circle
seeking Allah,
finding Jesus

what are 7 secrets of persuasion?
I turn to the African Samurai
for answers
he, black warrior
is silent
truth is best served, with starving mouth

My hubby's books

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub- Finding poems in Bookshelves (Spine Poetry), hosted by Bjorn Rudberg.  I added my own lines in the available titles. 

Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.

Death-song

my hair
bathed in snake's oil under pink moon
my skin
a blasphemy of brine
from slaughtered bones & tusks
watch me
glide wearing the red
crown of destruction

count your hours
because i will smother your every
breath
weigh your coins & fancy
clothes because i will empty every
streets & buildings you have polka-stamped
your name

i will slither-slit
lungs of your weakest lot & then
i will come for
you

the death-song
pealing in your marbled churches-
the nightmare-beast
clawing your heart to stillness-

you own nothing
in this plague of war
but a mote of dust
leave me
alone
until my very own children

come
& kill me


Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Poetics, in the time of the plague, hosted by Bjorn Rudberg.  Pub doors open by 3pm EST.

waiting for the curve to flatten (& fall) --->

pair of chickadees 
are busy
building nest of twigs 
daffodil shoots are opening 
to sunshine, dewy-eyed 

our windows are closed 
 - shoes boxed - jackets folded -  
tucked away 
as house becomes 
 - fortress - 

we hide here, 
counting cases  
 - fatalities/country -
with gloves
 - masked -




Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Quadrille, hosted by De Jackson.
This is a 44 word post, with the given word, CLOSE.   See you when the virtual pub doors open at 3pm EST.    Hope you are all safe!!!   

a symphony at the park

blue sky, fresh cool wind,
afternoon sun on my face -
seagulls shriek, trumpets
over empty streets & tracks
above stadiums deadly quiet

ducks swimming in ponds
geese swooping from sky, thunder-
bolts of wings, symphony
of robins and cardinals -

magical season, i am spring



Posted for dVerse Poets Pub -Quadrille, hosted by Linda Lyberg.   This is a 44 word post, with the given word,  MAGIC.    Pub doors open at 3pm EST.