More Less

I need to write more poems again.
I miss the way my brain worked then.
I also need to play more songs,
design more websites, right more wrongs,
find more clients, make more cash,
do more with my craft-stuff stash,
speak more Spanish, read more books,
spend time proving I can cook,
make more friends, call friends more,
do more with my Etsy store,
give my toddler more of me,
be the best that I can be,
yes, the very, very best–
okay, so what should I do less?

Pretty Good Match

I have been writing poetry lately– actually quite a bit. But it's all in the form of song lyrics and the songs are still being formed. I finished this one within a day so that I could publish it on Valentine's Day:



Thanks for watching– there are more songs to come!

Give and Take For Heaven's Sake

How blessed I am to give,
how wonderful you can take.
I'm just glad someone can use
these things for heaven's sake.

Fragile

You had fallen down the stairs before,
my rough and tumble child.
And you got up to play some more.
You only had a little while.
I have brushed tears off your cheeks
and gravel from your knees.
But all our strength is still too weak
for this day's injury.

Aren't we all so fragile?
How fast we fall,
how carefully we must be handled.
How much we can take,
how suddenly we break…
Oh, how it aches to be this fragile.

You had fallen out of bounds before
with your rough and tumble heart.
But it wouldn't happen again, you swore.
When you felt that burning spark,
you brushed it off as quick as tears
so that you would be fine.
But all our strength is still too weak
to keep our strength in line.

Aren't we all so fragile?
How fast we fall,
how carefully we must be handled.
How much we can take,
how suddenly we break…
Oh, how it aches to be this fragile.

Oh God, take the pressure inside.
I am made of glass. I have no place to hide.
Can I ask, why did you make me so fragile?
Is that something you can handle?

Aren't we all so fragile?
How fast we fall,
how carefully we must be handled.
How much we can take,
how suddenly we break…
Oh, how it aches to be this fragile.

Your Day

Your grandparents are in town
Your hoping gravity will pull down
all the wrinkles from your graduation gown
in time for your speech tonight.

And regardless of how long you've known this day was on its way,
you still cannot believe that its today.
Your heart is beating harder than it has in a long time
and you know today is your day to shine.

All your friends are here
and your mom can't hold her tears.
The ceremony is drawing near
and you wonder what your love is thinking now.

And regardless of how long you've known this day was on its way,
you still cannot believe that its today.
Your heart is beating harder than it has in a long time
and you know today is your day to shine.

Some might call this pressure, but it's pain.
You rock back and forth like you're insane
and your husband says the doctor's on his way
and that you're doing great.

And regardless of how long you've known this day was on its way,
you still cannot believe that its today.
Your heart is beating harder than it has in a long time
and you know today is your day to shine.

Months of pain up to your chest.
You know you've given it your best.
And you're sure it's time to rest,
but what will it feel like?

And regardless of how long you've known this day was on its way,
you still cannot believe that its today.
Your heart is beating harder than it has in a long time
and you know today is your day to shine.

Surprise

When you wake up in the morning with a list of things to do,
and a sleepy-headed husband says that there's a gift for you,
and that it's bigger than a breadbox and that it is upstairs,
and you look but cannot find an item waiting anywhere,
but you go outside to check if he forgot it in the car,
and you find a different car where you thought that you had parked…
well then jump up and down and turn around and quick run back inside
and run to the guest room and find your sleeping sister! That's a great surprise!

Nice Things

Would you rather have nice things or good days?
Would you rather get along or get a raise?
I look around and I'm always amazed
how our lives pass so fast. When they end the stuff stays.

Monogamously

To have and to hold,
which means just for me!
I love being married
monogamously.

Different Nations

Dear cousin who I haven't seen,
we've moved up a generation.
We've often lived so far apart–
for years in different nations.
But now that you're a doctor
and now that I'm a mom,
you'd think that one of us had moved
to Greece or Vietnam.
And not because our jobs are different
(although they really are)
but because our lives are both so full.
That's what makes our nearness far.

How do You Imagine Heaven?

How do you imagine heaven?
A desert nomad imagines green
and water flowing all around.
A relocated businessman imagines
a family reunion in a small town.
And I imagine something like
the big kitchen in the hostel in Lisboa,
where we're all laughing and talking and cooking together.

Attention Anthropologists

Immediate Availability

Attention anthropologists:

Great case-study material.

Will consider any offer.

Poster included.

Ode to Kitchens

A place to heat, a place to cool,
a place for goose or greens or gruel,
a place for kindness and for kin,
a place to start each day again
with coffee from the coffeepot.
A kitchen is a lovely spot.

To Let Rest

True love lets him sleep till noon
or even past. I'll wake him soon,
but I have found, sometimes the best
way to love is to let rest.

Games

We have a shelf of games.
We do not play them much
because our baby likes to eat
dice and tiles and such.
When she's around, cards quake
and checkers try to flee.
She thinks it is a game,
and we cannot disagree.

Right Now

In the morning sun, when your shadow is long,

I see how you're growing, healthy and strong,

and how you will be so tall someday

and what a joy it will be to watch you play.

And when it is later, almost noon,

your shadow curls up, almost like a cocoon;

I remember when you were a baby just born

and I long to hold you like on your first morn.

And as the day goes, and the sun sets too fast,

I think of the present, the future and past,

and your shadow gets longer, and you're a day older

and a little voice whispers, "Right now– you should hold her."

My Sister

Now my sister's all grown up.
 That is, she's graduated.
  But if she still finds more to learn,
   well, I guess we are related.

Tomorrow's Eyes

How can I look straight into my child's eyes

and think about my work, my plans?

Is it because I think

"Oh, you'll still be here tomorrow."

Life is too fast.

I hold her fast to my shoulder and look beyond her.

Tomorrow. 

Does she know what tomorrow is?

Or is she only beginning to know herself?

She herself is tomorrow.

Tomorrow's writer, tomorrow's chef, tomorrow's engineer, tomorrow's mother…

And so I see that I am one small mother of tomorrow

so of course I look straight into my child's eyes

and think about tomorrow.

My Sister Is Coming Today

My sister is coming today.
We have a place she can stay.
She's bringing her laundry and a big backpack
in that college-student way.
My sister is coming by car.
My sister has traveled so far
with her laundry and her big backpack
so we can be the sisters we are.

Happy Birthday, Brother

It's hard to think that you're not much older than me.
It's different now than when you were six and I was three.
And soon even our kids will be in the same stage.
Don't worry, you'll always be ahead of me in some ways.

Why Live Anywhere

We want to know where you will live
but you have no reply to give.
You could settle here or there.
You could live just anywhere.

Why live, why live,
why live anywhere?
We seem to land just where we fall.
It matters a lot, but hardly at all.
We go on living wherever we are,
so settle near or settle far.

Just have a reason to be there--
but why live anywhere?

And here we are in this here town

that is, for now, our stomping grounds,

but we could move a hundred miles

to the same stores, and streets and styles.

But here we have family and friends,

some roots, some length, and some split ends.

If those things are what life's about

we'll find them within and we'll find them without.

So why live, why live,
why live anywhere?
We seem to land just where we fall.
It matters a lot, but hardly at all.
We go on living wherever we are,
so settle near or settle far.

Just have a reason to be there--
but why live anywhere?

If you ask this question too,
let's move together to a big commune,
and find life's meaning and relocation's end
but even there, we'd miss our friends.


So why live, why live,
why live anywhere?
We seem to land just where we fall.
It matters a lot, but hardly at all.
We go on living wherever we are,
so settle near or settle far.

Just have a reason to be there--
but why live anywhere?