Monday, July 18, 2016

july 18, as good a day as any

A couple of developments over the past few months. I started a new job with a small coffee importing company in Orange County, called Bodhi Leaf Coffee Traders, and rescued a young cat; (not the one that nearly gave me rabies), but this one. We call her Maudie, she's nearly 10 months old, and is as happy as a clam. Guess that makes two of us.

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

sidewalks into fortunes

november 19, 2012

two nickels and the dime,
heads down 
on the sidewalk crack
just in front of her untied shoe lace
arms length as she passed swiftly
he had imagined fireworks
instead his best hope
burst open and scattered
like loose change
and not worth the reach

riding quietly for home, 
he honked his horn twice just before leaving
letting the white lights of the black sky 
sing optimism into the throttle
hold on tightly
failure is real
as real as the hope 
i try to remind him of
hope like a 1992 summer
when we flew 
from our parents rooftop with a bed sheet
when all we knew 
was that we were fearless
and a mother’s shriek 
and a father’s fist
couldn’t beat the braveness from our bones

i still want to fly
so please
let me call you beautiful
let me fall in love with every kind of beautiful that you wear on your body
let me leap from your rooftops
my arms have never been wider
your lips have never been brighter
let me kiss them heavenward
let my kisses burst into your wildest dreams 
let us come down slowly
and together 
we'll collect all our failures from the sidewalks into fortunes

Sunday, July 3, 2016

if Maudie could talk between her Sunday naps, she'd say

i like mice. 
i like to kill mice, 
toy mice. 
i like to pretend kill my toy mice. 
i like to tear things apart. 
i like to tear cardboard apart mostly. 
i like to shred it in the night, 
and leave the debri scattered about the rugs. 
i like to wake up very early in the morning. 
i like to meow until my breakfast is served, 
eat precisely half of the bowl, 
then meow until i am pet. 
i like to scratch my scratch post.
i like to jump onto the bed and walk across your chest,
put my face against your face,
and meow until i am pet.  
i like to poop after my breakfast. 
i like to cover it up and then rub my paws on the bathroom walls. 
i like coffee bags. 
i like laying on them, 
biting them, 
digging my nails into them, 
and using them to claw my way around the bottom of the living room table. 
i like balls. 
squishy balls, 
aluminum foil balls,
rubber band balls. 
i like anything that rolls. 
i like strings. 
i like strings tied to feathers,
strings that hang from the bed sheets and the blinds.
i like computer cables, 
and anything that moves back and forth when i swat it with my paws. 
i like naps. 
i like my spot on top of the sofa, 
and my grey knit blanket. 
i like to lay here, unmoved,
to fall in and out of sleep. 
i like to fall in and out of sleep. 
i like…