Hands from Heart to Prufrock

1/27/2017

I was looking for this poem in the archives, but to my astonishment, though it was published in WEEDS Art and Literary Journal, I never posted it here.

Hands from Heart to Prufrock
I would like to see with eyes unclouded
Clearly, truly.

What am I?
Nothing.

What will anyone remember?
What does anyone remember now?
A lunatic;
Crazed, perhaps?

Tear down the mirror with hand-tipped claws.
A mono possibly,
Mona,
Up the tree, a little tipped in the brain,
Simpleton.
Or even a red star burning out,
Terrible and sublime (sub-lime) for a while,
But in the end,
Quite disappointing.

I really am nothing
I think is thought of me.
Only a hollow voice and a thirsty ego.
A little too eager to please,
Soul-dehydrating fearful of
Falling short of your expectations.

At my best,
I am lucky:
a star smiled gently upon me.

But really I'm just mediocre
Ochre
Ocre
Nothing at all
But a small heart
Trying to grow through the cracks
In the sidewalk
Towards a sun
A billion miles away.

In Passing

 

When I am dead, my dearest:

Consume me as the ravaging whole,

Convert me to organic matter,

That I might become at last, a blade of grass.

 

 

Recuerdos Buenos / I want to carry those people, tiny, in my pockets

Soy algo
Entre professor
Y alumna:
Una cosa con feathers
Que hace ruidos raros
En un esquina.

Yo vuelo,
Pájaro
Libre entre
Los dos.

Toda la gente he iba conocido
Son en mi corazón
Recuerdos buenos
Preciosas
Ellos yo siento en mis manos
Los llevo con cariño
Estoy privilegiada
Y no puedo creer
Pero intento
I appreciate it all
Y se quiero todos.   

Pero la verdad es:
Estoy tonta para todo
No?

Mi cielo-

I can’t help but dance
In the mornings
No matter how tired
My body is

 

 

Stag in Headlights

Branching antlers
Dark against my truck's headlights
In the northbound lane;
Regal and still

An oncoming car,
Oblivious, but not impervious
As the stag

I flash my brights-
Their speed is unchanged
-And I remember
Unlike my 4Runner
This truck has a working horn
I honk to warn the deer,
Perhaps also the driver;
I fear for the safety of both

-And the stag
Bounds towards the east side of the road
Away from both cars,
Thanks be to the wilderness gods.
(For a moment I envisioned him staggering into the side of my car)