Kindly please, release the tsunami's
Earthquakes and hurricanes
Take whatever disease out of deep freeze
Set the sun up to bake

Have the latest virus reach a major crisis
Where peaceful riots misbehave
And the tornados, can you make those
Skip outside the alleyway

Take what is left of the last economic crash
Just add a different flavor
Long enough so that the next step of keep them on edge
Is the odor that they savor

With the toss of a dime throw in a mudslide
A forest fire or two for good measure
Whatever it takes to keep up the shakes
Don't forget a smidgen of cancer

Throw in a war or a rumor for sure
To keep them afraid of their neighbors
Have them judge men by the color of skin
And not by their best behavior

I'm sure there are others but this pretty much covers
This low rent life with high demand
Like a jilted lover holds onto your number
The consequence of sin

You in your full bloom, at peace,
like swirling honey in warm milk,
made of rich pigment and velvet petals.

take a breath, and paint a picture,
of the transient atmosphere,
and you swaying with the ocean breeze.

send it to that part of you
that is lost in endless worry.

i have watched the two
of them love each other,
from too far away
for far too long

they stand, struck
by a venomous paralysis
inflicted by the fanged promises
he begged her to make. she made them to him,
because she wanted him to make them to her

but that was in the jungle, when they both were younger
when they both had a little too much sacred acid in their bellies
and adulthood was a struggle

now their love is stuck in the dunes
everything has changed
but still the same sand
no end in sight
anything that grows here
is sharp and puts up a fight

their conversations are a barren, cracked plain
they tread carefully, fear bespoke
her mother's back already broke

watching them love each other
has been like watching two north poles try to make the other south

Not easy to state the change you made.
If I'm alive now, then I was dead,
Though, like a stone, unbothered by it,
Staying put according to habit.
You didn't just tow me an inch, no--
Nor leave me to set my small bald eye
Skyward again, without hope, of course,
Of apprehending blueness, or stars.

That wasn't it. I slept, say: a snake
Masked among black rocks as a black rock
In the white hiatus of winter--
Like my neighbors, taking no pleasure
In the million perfectly-chisled
Cheeks alighting each moment to melt
My cheeks of basalt. They turned to tears,
Angels weeping over dull natures,
But didn't convince me. Those tears froze.
Each dead head had a visor of ice.

And I slept on like a bent finger.
The first thing I was was sheer air
And the locked drops rising in dew
Limpid as spirits. Many stones lay
Dense and expressionless round about.
I didn't know what to make of it.
I shone, mice-scaled, and unfolded
To pour myself out like a fluid
Among bird feet and the stems of plants.
I wasn't fooled. I knew you at once.

Tree and stone glittered, without shadows.
My finger-length grew lucent as glass.
I started to bud like a March twig:
An arm and a leg, and arm, a leg.
From stone to cloud, so I ascended.
Now I resemble a sort of god
Floating through the air in my soul-shift
Pure as a pane of ice. It's a gift.

Di mo ba napapansin?
Anak mo, sagad na din.
Pasensya, di kinaya,
Inis ka na rin pala.

Sinong gustong malungkot?
Laging nakabaluktot?
Isa lang aking dingin,
Maglaho, kagaya ng hangin.

Saya sa anak ng iba,
Sa akin din, pwede ba?
Magaling, masayahin,
Pag-iisip, normal din.

Kung sumama sa hangin,
Ako sana’y malimot din.
Maging masaya ka sana,
Sa iyong bagong hardin.

are we but lonely dreamers
drifting upon a sea of twilight stars
not knowing when to wake