Nearly immortal
I have died more than
a thousand breathtaking deaths
in this body
Creaking only when
I want to prove something
Physical like movement
My flawed flesh with
Its incurable wrinkles
Has carried me thru the
Uncertainty of dis-ease
I still look for rainbows
as a sign for hope
while the rain waters
my dreams and bones
The Sun will always be my co-creator
I make good food
but still envy the
longevity of trees

words moved me, and
God
i wanted my fingers to blister and my
bones to ache
but my mind withers and my heart breaks
i swallowed ink and still i couldn’t
make the words flow like they used to as if
almost as if
they refuse to

is a prayer.

No locks of gold she would have worn
Nor fair in skin she would adorn

Every time she rose to speak
No ears to listen how they sleep

No one cared for the girl with naps
How she read you like a map

She had issues with her self
All of them on a dusty shelf

For everyone to judge and see
Her human flaws plauging thee

With no one there to help her plight
Her body began to dim in light

when she died in dark and cold
No one knew her depth in soul

Who was a fire that warmed the old
A golden angel you would behold

I will not empty myself
For profit
Replace her with a brand,
Digestible,
Instead of root-bound.

I'm not afraid of helping
But of exploiting
The same eating at the table
With salt and sawdust,
Exhausted.

Not afraid of using time
But selling all the hours.
This neutron star,
This storm surge
Bottled on the back shelf.

There is nothing I can do
But fall behind
For my peace
Stitch where I can stitch
And live stubbornly as her.

He handed it to me when I was 25,
with a Cheshire cat smile,
knowing it wasn't my team,
and liking it all the better for it.
I wore it,
reluctantly,
the Kelly green of it a traffic cone
warning others not to get too close
brim worn thin
on the edges
where he was always
making sure it sat
...just.
right.
until the shamrocks stitched to the side
could no longer mask the shackles
I tore it off
set it ablaze in the front yard
and let my soft ginger curls
fly free in the breeze,
finally mine again.