Witching Hour
Midnight
the witching hour
and here I am magicless
but for the blood magic
of moon and menses
yet still I strive
to remember the chants
from long ago
when witches were a dime a dozen
and mere mortals their familiars.
Have a Nice Day
When I came to California, a gruff New Yorker,
well nigh 38 years plus change ago,
the first time I heard, “Have a nice day!” from
a super market clerk after I had purchased
a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter and milk,
I thought to myself, “What the actual fuck?!”
I had no idea what she was up to or what she meant.
And then I heard it everywhere, “Have a nice day,”
said the ice cream store clerk and the sandwich shop
cashier and even the gas station attendant.
I thought I had landed on some spooky, sticky planet
of gooey good cheer, totally fake and reflexive.
So now, much more accustomed to the saying,
as common as “Where should we go to eat? Or
did you finish your homework?”, I jokingly reply,
“Don’t tell me what to do! I have authority issues,” and
I wink, the closest I can come to a smiley faced emoticon.
welcome home
I’ve been keeping all the adjectives
in the barn out back
but the wind that welcomes home family and friends
blew open the doors
and the adjectives all got away
still welcome home
so I must go out and round them up with the horses
which will take a while to saddle and welcome home
I’ll need the big wagon
but while I’m gone you are welcome home too
not in the barn of course
but here at the picnic table with the yellow welcome
home pantheon
and the jar of adjectives to use only once
because they spoil
I’ve put some on ice that you are welcome to use until I get back home
haphearted
fanbundant
helfish
splendocious
playlicious
holytrocious
sologarchical
musicpherous
What’s Your House?
Our house defines us.
Whether it is clean or dirty.
Organized or messy.
Smart or brave.
Ambitious or hardworking.
But one house can have every attribute.
Maybe the kitchen is dirty,
But the bathroom is spotless,
And the office is overly organized,
While the bedroom is bedlam.
One person can have many rooms.
Many facets.
Many houses.
No single adjective can describe a house
Or a person, for that matter.
Leave me Alone
When I go to trial
Do not ask, “How are you?”
Please pardon me
Don’t let me hear
“Welcome home.”
Do excuse me the first day
So return I won’t
Say, “Thank you”
You are free to go
And have a nice day
A Wish
A penny cast into a well
A dandelion blown into the wind
Starlight star bright
First star I see tonight
Wish for happiness
Wish for health
Wish for long life
And wish for love
Simplicity
Fulfillment
Laughter
And passion
A smile to share
Eyes that are kind
A hand to hold
A heart to keep
A true and genuine love
19 Team MYSELF (Now You’re Talking)
Absolutely, Team Myself can’t be trampled upon,
Team Myself love itself too much now to allow that
Certainly, Team Myself will not permit anyone or anybody for that matter
To run amok inside its head
Clearly, you are not licensed to slay Team Myself’s very core,
its precious heart, into smithereens
Definitely, no one and nobody can make Team Myself change its mantra,
its credo “I Love You Self”, “I Am My Own Woman”
Precisely, without emotional involvement, there will be no
physical aerobics nor gymnastics, taboo to all sexual innuendoes
Unconditionally, you are not at liberty to make significant,
relevant decisions for Team Myself, you are strictly prohibited
Unquestionably, no questions asked, will not acquiesce to any
inequality, partiality and one-sidedness.
Go Team Myself…no procrastination
Put those feet down…now
it’s about time
Picaroon
(a rogue, thief or pirate ~ earliest documented use 1624)
I have sailed these hourly seas in search of myself.
I am happily engaged in wee hour swashbuckling,
ready to board a vessel and strip it clean of its story.
A poetry picaroon,
I shall swagger across your line of sight flying the Jolly Roger
and swilling rum.
Yo ho ho, me hearties!
Poem Nineteen ~ Lilypads
Water pond lily pads so they may bloom, flowering great rose pink flowers upon their flat algae green surfaces. Homely for frogs of all size, saving shelter to generations to come. Partial favour towards the flavour of pink, brighter hues imbue brighter frogs.
Great pearl storks stalk the
great big lake for weak tadpools;
Darwin code at work.
Hour 13 – Ellis’s Dream
Re: http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/a/abdulfaruq_jamal.html
Ellis had problems
Her heart was in the right place
Her overworked mind seldom was
Back home after a brutal night shift
Forty winks with the blinds down
Seemed like a good idea
In her dreams Ellis found
Basil playing alone
Gushing with affection, she joined him
They played and played
They laughed, they screamed
Ellis left Basil sleeping in her dreams