She’s the real deal.
Streamlined, aerodynamic.
She glides right past me at the track.
No knee or ankle supports.
No plodding.
Gazelle like and bright.
Her name should be Lululemon Athletica.
Does speed sacrifice alignment?
Sure, but I reject these sour grapes.
This is my time.
The elder in me requires care.
And youth forgives form.
Later she leans against the fence.
Smoking her cigarette, breathing greedily.
I change course to avoid the acrid, the stink.
My brow begins to knit.
Don’t start, I tell myself.
From the archives:
I answered my own question
All of the roads they did lead here
To mend
Rain. It did.
Before I stepped out, a minute, an hour ago, when I lay sleeping, unawares. It clings to the air, the tree trunks, the branches strewn about all random-artful.
Palettes soaked in themselves, wild, unfettered. Promiscuous watercolors I don’t have to paint. This is the stuff of dreams, what my photographer self waits for. It doesn’t look real but you can’t make it up either. I walk up about free, gathering it all in. Having a destination stops me not at all. Ridiculously early I will be anyway. I stop just short of greedy.
The best part is that the rains will come again. I see it in the sky, opulent white, opaque, the wind softening everything.
If it weren’t for the storm brewing, the shadows would be too deep, the palette drying under the sun. Nature would have put itself together again and I would have walked by. Nary a glance at what could have been.
By the time the sky unleashes the pelt, the soaking, I’ll be inside.
Warm, untouched, clothes, hair. Camera face down. Ready to be my other side. Content with incandescent bulbs, the TV, the safety, the perfect dry.
From the archives:
I Stand In Judgement
I walked to the end of the driveway
The Water Table
Here is my steady wish
A horizon line of glassy water
A fine, calm mirror
For the firs and clouds and whatever else awaits you
A heartbeat sweet and slow
A dry brow
An easy smile
The crinkle around the eyes - an extra prayer!
My plans for you, selfless and unfettered
Your table laid with iced confection when hot, warm repast when cold
I hate the thought of anything less
Sunup to sundown need be for you
Ready, accommodating, alert
Shoes to hold not bind
Lay the weary to rest, let the bed rise to meet you
It’s an object, inanimate, and the one thing you don’t have to help
From the archives:
Hydration
Picture Edit
To mend
I listen for the silence between the sounds
They make more music
They bring great shame upon these instruments
I close my eyes as if to drown it out
They stand and bow at the end
Pleased as punch with themselves
I blame them, though none are composers
They’ve been complicit
They brought it to life
At the end I open my eyes
Just long enough to tap two fingers together
And glare at each and every one of them
From the archives:
Take This Inspiration And Shove It
I answered my own question
I Stand In Judgement
I’m so much better than I was
I thought I was good before
I couldn’t have imagined this - what I’m doing now
I show no sign of stopping
I’ll keep going on
If I’m lucky
If I’m allowed to live
Ten years from now
I can’t imagine now how good I’ll be
At that time I’ll know what I can’t know now
What can’t be made now
What can only be seen hence
When I see it I’ll understand
From the archives:
Picture Edit
Careful Words
The High Cost Of Being Me
When cold rain fell in sheets
When the wind took your umbrella
When the ground opened up
When the cracks swallowed you whole
When your right hand took the brunt
When your right hand looked like meat
When the rest of you stood unharmed
When your right hand rested
When your left hand shone eager
When your left hand surprised everybody
When your left hand was the hero
When your brain met your left hand halfway
When your left hand remapped your brain
When they both became dominant
When you became the southpaw
When your right hand thanked your left hand
When your brain thanked your left hand
When your left hand and brain thanked your right hand
When they all rolled up their sleeves
When everybody did their job
When you think about evolution
When you marvel at redundancy
When you know why you grow two of things
When you are abundant
When you are rich in body parts
From the archives:
The sun it did rise again
Rations
Yes, Please
