Welcome to corporate America
Take your seat
First of all,
We want to let you know
We appreciate you
You will be an asset
To our growing team of industry
Pay no mind to the construction
We are building ca.. Cubicles
For you are now a part of a team.. Our team
So settle into your seat
We want you to feel empowered
To grow beyond these walls
But stay in your seat
Remain focused
Please don’t put up any pictures on your cubicles
We don’t want you to be distracted
We don’t want you to remember freedom
Stop watching the clock
For your time is our time
We expect you to be an ambassador for our products
On and off the clock
The best advertising is free advertising
And we expect you to give up everything
So we can plaster our company logo across your chest
Have you thought about your brand?
How do you plan to sell yourself..  Back to us
To prove you are worth something
You see we own you now
Stay in your seat
We are building these cages for your own good
Your own good
Is to keep on task
Don’t ask questions
Just accept these walls
We read somewhere the latest work environment is a tomb
We empower you to do exactly what we say
Us corporations are individuals
And we want to let you know
We appreciate you
Enough to strip away your identity
Pluck away the vowels of your name
And make you a number
What is your brand?
You need to keep us interested in you
Don’t rattle your cages
Stay seated, keep focused
Let us break your back
Break you down
To keystrokes and metrics
Us corporations are individuals
And you are company assets now
We want to empower you
By taking away your choices
Your job will be what we say it is
So just do it
I know we told you the job would be one thing
But our needs and desires are always evolving
And we want to consume you
Devour every bit of your talent
What is your brand?
Have you thought about just tattooing our company motto
Across your chest?
Stay in your seat and stop rattling your cages
And whatever you do
Don’t climb up and over the walls
For you are a company asset now

I sway more
Fairy skirt swirling
Around me
Dancing with every step
I feel fluid
Shifting and bending
With every stride
My pixie side finds me
On an overcast day
Rain collecting upon skin
Skirt tickling my sides
And I find myself dancing
Jumping along puddles
Having the water whirl
Twist into a dancing partner
Clinging to me
And the edges of my Fairy skirt
As I walk away

Wrap myself up in Saturday
Tighten the day around me
Relaxation should be fashion
With a stage of people lounging
Letting the week fall away
Wouldn’t that be luxury
A runway show
Of casual mornings, easygoing evenings
Affordability in the convenience
Drink down fancy coffee and hot chocolate
As Saturday becomes a world renowned designer
Of my relaxation

My name lingered upon his lips
At midnight, he forgot
To whisper it three times
We had agreed to this arrangement
The clock sang out my farewell
And I fell apart, disassembling
Into a figment of regret

Tiny cheesecake
You are such a delight
A tiny morsel
Three bites all mine
Once I find that pesky fork of mine

May 2013
Memorial day weekend
It was warm with promises of sun
Beautiful blue skies
And no cloud in sight
Seattle prepared for crowds
People swarming the Center
For folk music, food
Laughter and smiles shining bright

My leg, a bright red
I woke up
Burning hot with red seeping up my leg
Pain swarmed my back
Tears gathering
In corners of my eyes
As I was admitted
To the emergency room
Greeted with morphine, leaving me in a haze

*** induced haze
Lingering around the fountain
Families occupied the edge
Children running in and out
Collecting droplets of water
Along with sunburns
While groups of friends
Gathering in drum circles
Slow rhythmic thumping could be heard for miles

My son’s heartbeat
Thumped in my ears
I watched the fear
As he focused on the antibiotic drips
Invading my body
The days in clipped moments
Passing in and out
With each wave of fever
And the doctors
Tattooed my leg with sharpie

Artwork was only one thing
Found in the vendor alley
People flooded the booths
Snatching up
Brightly colored creations
As they headed to find
Dance troupes, bollywood
Inspired activities
With stomping feet, swaying arms

They placed the central line
Into my right arm
My body had clogged each IV
the doctors warned me
If the redness started
To show patterns of serrating
Then they would have to take my leg
Diazepam had me slurring out
I am fine, I am fine

Memorial Day
A time of remembrance
Services to be held
Events to commemorate
All the fallen
From a concert at Museum of Flight
To baseball game with Seattle Mariners
To appreciate, appreciate

It took ten days
For me to be released
May 2013, Memorial Day weekend
I would always remember
As the beginning
Of my growing struggle
With gradual loss of mobility

I am fine, I am fine

I wear autumn
Upon my shoulders
Some say I hold fire
My paws dark as coal
And when I run
I am the fog
Early morning mist
Disappearing into the trees
I laugh haunting the shadows
To be mistaken for ghosts
That is autumn--those spirits
And they run their fingers
Through my coat