Its been 30 minutes,
were eating at the kitchen counter,
but were both watching the cake,
that chocolate cake that he loved.
I wonder how long it will stay there?
One day passed, then two,
I came home on the third,
and it wasn't there anymore.
Some how it felt like the day you left.
Now were at the counter,
staring at the coffee ***,
that we refuse to touch.
His memories crowd this house,
even if he's gone.

The world grew sick
it happened so quick
and so the people prayed
in spiritual foundations laid

the people went to see
the healers to be set free
hurt souls seek relief
and beyond belief-
     ~the healers got sick

songs lathered in Purell
as the death tolls swell
ringing out the Sioux band’s
cared for with gloved hands
    ~hands that caught rain
       now wracked with pain

Standing Rock tumbles down
as fits of coughs drown
    “My girl, I don’t know what to do-“
the words of a dying healer
once free to roam
in death
kept far away from her  home

When they pass on
all that knowledge gone
the words and ways of old
lost as voices go cold

Breath taken away
also yesterday
is gone around the bend
ways of old set to end
     -the sacred fire untended

No more secret Candy
or cherished smiles
veterans vanquished
peacemakers in pieces:

Porcupine
Bear Soldier
Running Antelope
Cheryl and Jesse Taken Alive

lovers from the start
Cheryl and Jesse died
only a month apart
holes in the Taken Alive heart

Their moccasins remain still
big shoes for others to fill
Standing Rock’s hills rolling
as graves keep filling
    
  ~the healers got sick
     hands that caught rain
     now wracked with pain
     the sacred fire untended

... still, the fire burns
out of the ashes, Nola, a child
of those Taken Alive learns
to hear the call of the wild

Young pup’s paws will fill the boots in time
though Standing Rock’s still,
still it stands
rain to be caught by fresh hands
new ears record the tree’s chime

“We’re still here,” Nola said
Taken Alive stands still
at Standing Rock
~
NM
01/15/21

One rose; another.

Just wait for the rain, no thorn

touching the other.

Examine the word "embrace"
How syllables escape into sound
Waves
Mouth shapes
Release

E - M - BR - A - CE
How tender
A gentle approach

E... arms open wide
the invitation
an elongated welcome
"Come close"
Lips parted into a smile

M... a joining together
Communion

BR... limbs entangling
Millimeters pulse

A... the one enclosed

CE... teeth in contact, lips dangle
Hold that position
The lock

No letting go. No gaps. No holes

In bracchium -- this is your home.

Hug -- to console
a rush, a thud, an immediate response

H - U - G. Hug.
Hush.
Here. Now. Tighter.

Speech Pathology & Linguistics.
How the mouth works, how we make sense of words -- Why does your face look like that when you say those words?

Anthropology. Semiotics. Etymology.

Notice how we gather and release,
what we do to make an embrace, a hug.
Mouths feel before nerves could touch.

Have we yearned so much that utterances have become placeholders?

Settling for words, we fixate on how we say them
Read my lips gained a new meaning

Embrace, hug
Opening and closing,
holding and releasing,
touching

Wishing an action upon someone is not tantamount to sensations of nerve-endings

But bodies never really touch

Atoms push and pull
It's the physics around them that we feel
When palms caress
When fingers trace
When skin brushes upon skin
Physics

Let the physics of my words be enough until our electrons can interact again

In a dance

The expanse between your atoms and mine is dismissible as long as you hold on to the words "embrace" and "hug" and "kiss" and "love"  and the anatomy of how these words come to be

Until then, I wrap my whispers around yours

Their warmth is the 3rd law of motion in action

Hope, this Covid Crisis will end soon.
So that, we can go back to

dying as usual:

Because of Pollution
Because of Climate change
Because of Wars
Because of Exploitation
Because of Poverty
Because of Drowning while migrating
Because of Cancer
Because of Car accidents
Because of Shootings from rooftops
Because of Being born

Because of Hypocrisy.

Death comes quickly now with deceit
Azrael's swift ****** and repeat
No time even to check his receipts
Where is the forty days' notice?
Covid. the Avatar's fatal diagnosis

Perpetual mourning is our daily hymn
As we dance to the Viral god's rhythm
No end to these incessant chords
Or spiraling treatment algorithms
  
A requiem for the abundant life force taken
Unceasing cantata from the earth's broken
The dark composition's erratic notes
Orchestrated death, or science hoax?

We don't need fireworks to end the year
But answers and solutions to our fears
Ring the world's religious bells instead
For a shrouded New Years lies ahead

Peace to the departed too soon

Winter 2021

You woke me up each morning with your chirps
I know you only disappeared
You'd never willingly leave
For it’s been two years
But really, where did you go, small birdie
You've left me waiting everyday by my window, in tears
You used to flaunt your red chest and smile to me
Now all I see is your plate filled with food, yet no sight of you
Will I see you anytime soon?
You were there with me from summer on a hot mid-June
You stayed through spring and Autumn  
Even through winter, you still made sure to pay me a visit when due
Did Corona catch you?
Are you gone? I'm still watching out for you every morning
You've left me mourning
I'm expecting the worst, I'm hurting
You used to come by every day by my window
It’s been a month, in which I haven't seen you though
I'm worried sick, my head's a groan
How will I sleep?
How will I wake up without your singing in my ears?

-Yara AL-Raheme

Imprisoned in our drunken thoughts of escaping
Is there any single hope for changing?
If the moon is a friend for the lonesome to talk to
Then why does it say, there are no directions available to pursue?
I wanted to live a dream, he granted it for me
And yet, there is no time to spare
O you, lonely soul, are you melancholy, or are you in despair?
Words cut like a knife sometimes
But it pierces my heart instead
They say that the end is the beginning, and the beginning is the end
Will it even ever change?