Why are sharpies so permanent?
Somethings just leave their mark
like when I can’t sleep and it’s
three am and
the dog wakes me up at six and
I know that’s not enough
there are so many answers
just give me coffee
aging
When life is a question does anybody have an answer?
(When life is a question does anybody have an answer?)
What am I going to do with my life? he asks
Can you really answer that? she responds
Why can’t I just get on with my life?
What kind of a life do you want to get on with?
Can we take this in another direction?
What direction do you want to go?
Can I consider space?
Is space what you want to do with your life?
Can I be buried in space?
To be jettisoned into the universe?
Why not?
Do you want your body to expand twice its size?
That’s what would happen?
Can you see yourself frozen in space for millions of years?
What if I’m close to a star?
Do you want to burn to a crisp?
Why are you asking all these questions?
Do you really want an answer?
_________________
NaPoWriMo Day 28 prompt to write a poem of questions.
On Carmel Point
To My Dear Robinson Jeffers,
When the fog rolls and the horn sounds
I will think of the stones you carried
up the hill on Carmel Point
to set a foundation for Tor House
You kept going higher and higher
until you met the hawk
the world expanding around you
your small window with a view of the Pacific
I want life and death to come as naturally
I want to thank you for placing stone
upon stone in such a way it formed
narrow pathway to the highest point
__________________________________________
Yes, my dear,
“Against the outcrop boulders of a
raised beach
We built our house when I and my
love were young.
Here long ago . . .
. . . all that we saw or heard
was beautiful.” Robinson Jeffers
___________________
NaPoWriMo prompt on letter to a favorite historical figure and response by that person. One of my favorite poets. I visited his house and Tor House in Carmel one day while road tripping. Original take on this experience written in 2016.
My Blanket
Quick the seasons were
in the time of pandemic
under a clear sky
caught up in futures
if we live or die here— who cares
know this for all days
that are shorter now
with the cold of winter coming
I want my blanket
___________________
dVerse quadrille prompt on the word blanket
Death
MIND body spirit
brought together
glows through
the portal
of what we call death
_______________
dVerse prompt on portals
Death’s Knock
Last night there were knocks
on a door which woke me up
wondering if this
was deliberate knocking on my door
maybe from the homeless people
in the woods next door or someone else
who needed me in the middle
of the night and without pajamas
I left the bed to have a look
& then remembered I was naked
with a fear that someone
could have been looking in at me
standing there oblivious to the fact
that death’s knock had come
to the neighbor in the house
west of me as I went back to sleep
_____________________
dVerse prompt on a one sentence poem containing perhaps an embarrassing experience and incorporating the end of civilization
Refreshing
I went to the beach
air was so fresh
sea salt refreshed me
it was in the air
and in the water
refreshing—
Greeks say it keeps
your skin young
_____________________
dVerse prompt to repeat a word in different form called polyptoton. Photo from today in Crete.
I Saw My Mother Dying
I saw my mother dying
Can recognize when someone is about to give up life
“That’s life” an old woman says at the library when the copy machine won’t copy
“That’s death” I say to myself
in between is limbo
Her strong bones frail now
meds keep her under
she wants more
skin pocked with injections
she doesn’t want to know me
what’s the point
she is dying
it can happen to anyone
at anytime
you don’t have to be old to die
What I Want
A belly is a hindrance
six pack is an extreme
somewhere in the middle
is the waistline
for which I dream
Name Change
to my husband
I took your name
it was smooth
birdlike
a long necked thing
white or black
never in between
this is not a swan song
it is a love song
ready to sing
against a sea of feathers
a bird taking wing
wordshophop 