Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Fossil

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Fossil

 

I noticed it 

            while walking

With my children 

         Over 

the twisting 

                   bumpy trails

That boys like,

      rough, 

               unsure

                      Slightly

                           Dangerous

This mother’s mind

       Concentrating 

On the safe 

              footfall

Six other feet

She wills

              With a shifting 

But Persistent Gaze

Be careful

For 

      any 

            troublesome 

                   Spot

                Loose dirt

             Gives warning

     Haste of only 

One, 

Is

All 

It 

Would 

Take

To 

Spoil

It

Again…Be Careful

The view lost in her diligence

             The sunshine 

                     sneaking through

Without invitation, 

no arm 

Holding back the way

Its brilliance

Glinting on a fragment

          Stop a second she suggests

Look 

        There

                 A bone, 

Pulling it

              Free

Wooly mammoth, giant tortoise, T-Rex, 

Squabbling paused with 

We will be famous, like that Leaky guy from science class

Then a trained eye, wise, reasoned 

It’s just a deer bone, boys…see

His explanation lost as we move on

The youngest 

       pleading to bring it home

Sure

Knowing the desire to keep

This day propped
Against his wall

A polished memory

Possibilities in every fossil

 

 

Then and Now

Uncategorized

It’s not necessary, my missing you
moving through my days there
are moments when you do not cross
my path of conscious thought

It’s when I stop, receding into a
calmness, body still, heart on fire
lending fuel to imagination of ifs,
whys, and should have beens

It’s there in the tiny spaces of time
where attempts to make sense of
the us we had created mystifies
me in a cloud of lovely deception

It’s here when woman and girl
become transposed, confused
I am one, sometimes the other
within me the girl, your view

It’s how everyone else sees me
though, a woman only with duties,
responsibilities, things to do
that is the person they know

It’s now, as catching a glance
in the mirror of my hallway
I look for her, his girl, your girl
that when lingering, she appears

Amrit

Uncategorized, ,

Smile, he says his white teeth flashing
You get too frustrated and forget
His father was a policeman in Nepal
He brought his work home with him
Phone calls, not the norm in his country

My mom brought her work home
In sullen regularity of unspoken frustration
She spent thousands on my teeth
An investment in my future happiness
My mom did not invest in what was not visible

My teeth, he says, should make you smile
I feign ignorance of his crooked teeth
They don’t make a bit of difference
On a face lit by golden happiness
Your teeth are so white I respond

The whole time he speaks, he smiles
Genuinely sweet, touched by loveliness
I’m thinking the policeman invested well
That heart was created with no money spent
I am grateful his father was a wise man

Absence of Affection

Uncategorized, ,

Unpromised affection
Physical touch apart
From bedtime or goodbye
Yearning for hands to slide
Around me while doing
An ordinary chore
Transforming the mundane
Loveliness now defined
A breathless connection
Keeping us together
Forever
In rooms or miles away
Memory lending peace
To the dreams unfulfilled
Merely In the giving
Of an unexpected
Thoughtful caress by you
Unmanaged and unplanned
Desire, passion, need
Compelling your gesture
In this moment doing dishes