I
sp
li
t
my sleeping time
Between my mother
my brother(s),
my lover
Anything to wake up
somewhere else.
To escape
Blank White Walls
of Lonliness.
The clean lines,
Glass
high ceilings
Glorious sunlight from the windows
Overpowering
Pristine floors
Surfaces
empty of purposes
When everything is in its place, what do you do?
Break something?
Make a mess…
Or run into someone else’s mess
to find comfort?
While we were alive,
We Died.
We Tried
Oh we tried
to be P-e-r-f-e-c-t
And look what we became?
Vacant
Spaces
of ourselves
Women
Not
Valued.
Insides vanished long ago
Now empty shells of peppery people.
Smile!
For the camera
There was a time
50 poems,
a video game,
a sense of home.
The lighthouse
After the night
on the private beach
After the drive
through mountains and trees
The morning sun.
We were young
We were “adventurous.”
Waking naked covered in bug bites.
Walking, wrinkled clothing, by the marathoners.
Laughing atop the hill.
The Windmill.
Sunday in the Hamptons.
I thought I was in love with you.
But I was just
In love.
Braids of strength
Warrior princess
Heart of stone
Eyes stare unwavering
Intimidating,
Frightening in their emptiness.
No dagger needed,
I’m the only weapon
Standing
between your life and death.
Before the devil got in me,
I spread my dreams through nature’s smile.
But now time runs like cold bath water.
Even the face of a familiar stranger
causes clawing night winds
to crack my young skin
letting the desert dryness lick through the privacy of my soul.
Jealousy breathes from my skeleton like perfume.
My eyes confess the guilt of lonely old men.
But even though bones dance in the parched sky,
I still hold my mystery like a poker hand.
2001
Women have taken
The Fall
Since Eve
I’m not Naive
The world has barely changed
for us, the Fairer Sex
Our only weakness
May be that we’re complex.
Perhaps that is Our Strength:
Fighting to Death
for Love and Life and Length
of Lasting Legacy
when we have no guarantee
People pleasers by nature…
But smarter than you think.
Take a bite,
make it mine
Grind your teeth
in its flesh—
On the Apple,
I do bet.
In the End, I’ll win the rest.
You will Repay
that Tempting Danger
of love and lust and longing
And be sorry you’ve
Mistaken belonging
by giving in to Sin
that exists within.
Isn’t it easy to fall?
And you thought you had it all.
I got you back you Snake, you Coward.
With me exists true Power.
Startled to see
Charcoal-rimmed eyes
staring back at me
from my reflection in coffee
Black.
You sit
ashing your cigarette
on gray stones of patio
We laugh about time, circumstance.
You look at me
I look down
at new stiletto boots
Boots I wouldn’t think of buying before
now.
Now, when I’m to act sophisticated, mature
I am happy we can laugh like children
I still feel like a child
especially around you
older, smoother
In these moments
I know I’m in love with you
When I feel you looking at me,
and it makes me shy and insecure,
When I look at myself and see a girl
dressed beyond her years,
And then you see the image I project as me
Woman
I am suddenly secure
beautiful.
You ignore my naivete
And we embrace each other
as equals.
(2003)
