Today is my birth day
I am newly born.
It was the most natural of births
But the labor dragged on
For thirty-nine years.

Today is a double celebration
I am toasting the death
Of my old self
And toasting the birth
Of me.
The real me.
The happy me.
The me who doesn’t feel the pain
Of abuse.
Who doesn’t feel the fear
Of ***.
Who doesn’t cower in shame
In the shadow of men
Who can’t love.

The funeral was quick
The burial was quicker
There will be no headstone
To commemorate that life
It’s dead and gone,
And I pray there are no scars
On my infant skin.

I don’t pretend that I will love again.
I don’t need that crazy ****
Living free and clear
Of ancient and ruins
Is enough for me.
I will not suckle on a ***
Ever again.
From this day on
Every step is a joy
It is my journey
And only mine.
Today I take baby steps
Tomorrow I walk
And soon I run
Putting endless miles
Between me and that
Cold unmarked grave.

Beyond the line of high tide
the boat rests on tilted side

her rolled in sails hear dreamily
songs of winds from the high sea!

Not everything I can make into a poem
like the sky just after rain
her embroidered smile its minutest hem
in her shade of cornea a grain of pain!

Not everything I can make into a poem
like wind eddies from wings of bird
her amorous veil that stokes my flame
in her lips’ quiver the unuttered word!

Not everything I can make into a poem
like the heron’s swoosh on the moon of marsh
her endless aroma without a name
in her eyes the million stars!

Not everything I can make into a poem
like when perches the bird on nest
her flushed cheeks in love game
in her kiss the sea salt’s taste!

I will never apologise for being Human;
weak and unpredictable

I bring you my gravelled hands and knees
and you kiss away my hurt;
always gentle always concerned for my good;
you brush aside all my falls;
and set me on my feet again

Under loved
Underfed
Under paid
Under wanted

But hey life's good

If ever the sun shines like gold
air smells of unknown happiness
tightly them in a bottle hold
secure in your safest place.

When hits you the roughest wave
a patch of shore you badly need
bring them out from where you saved
take off the lid for a spoonful feed.

If ever shines a passing light
forget not to store it well
in times of living through darkest night
take off the lid in it revel.

When hits you life's toughest phase
in the raging storm can't find your way
delve within to reach that place
where the bottled sun you stored away.

in my dream of spirals
we meet on the stairs
at the shoulder of the world

may i? i ask as i gather you in my arms;
in our cloak of words
our filigreed cocoon of thought

here, in our dawn of skin
we shine softly

and spill from a thousand kisses

through an open window

The pink of the cotton
failed to hide
the tip of my baby breast

It would be a lie
if I repeat
what Sylvia said

I have never been so pure

O, the wall of my nostrils
reeks of *****
Face-washing
has never felt
so pure
The hot bath
***** no ice
Ouija board and
the lost breath
They all are
yours
To keep
my psyche
shut.

I have never been so pure.

Thirty and the
sun
are what I
secretly
desire. In
my dawn
I lose my mind.
In
my dawn
I come running
to the
runaway rain
but she
desires
another. The gulp of
her
revenge --- ice-cold
scorch
of the throat.
I sip you, my
love --
I sip you so
much I
be the clouds
where God
hides their
tip of
their baby
breast.

God has
never been so
pure.

We come running
to the
crack.
We come running
as
she keeps desiring
another.
My clear
mirror has
stopped
telling the
future I
did use to
know. O, cursed
bathroom
stall;
my mirror
falls
yet it won't
shatter.

I will never be so pure

I have loved to be alone  
My whole life.

Closed doors, phone on silent.
I have never known

Loneliness.