A mess of mangroves, by mariacristina
Spring Cleaning
I’m sick of this crap. There’s a pile of junk about yay high for you to swing your body over with one arm. Last year we called the fire department to dig us out. They delivered a front loader, planted a dumpster in our front yard, and removed [...]
I see a whale
Swimming in the sea, I see a whale,
black shadow under my feet, a whale.
Winsome mallards float on a blue swell.
They whisper, A Wise One passes through, a whale!
I fling my body below the waves, a whale
travels toward the prey it craves.
I am not the one it seeks. The whale
comes close. It speaks [...]
Open up the stage trapdoors so he can see the moonlight
I have said it before
I’d like to get away from earth awhile
orange flares; swaying
in the indigos of darkness
I’d like to get away fom earth a while
let there be a landscape of open eyes
in the indigos of darkness
seeking out the darkest place, to better see [...]
black looking glass
hides token topaz
green question hangs
While writing a post for readwritepoem I discovered a new modern form: the Rothko. The process is to [...]
1. I found out why I’ve been soooo sleepy: an excess of serotonin in the blood stream. The new medication is out, and I’m backing off the old. I’m like a Chevy the doc needs to tinker with. Can’t wait until the junk is out of my blood stream.
2. We celebrated Easter our way. The [...]
Traces
A porcelain cup of lemongrass tea
slips from my hands and breaks–
I’ll use its shards as a keepsake,
a mosaic, traces of me.
In a junk drawer I see
post cards I’ll fit into a collage,
places I’ve known, now a montage,
a mosaic, traces of me.
A basket brimming with tie-dyed T-
shirts, jeans starting to fray,
I’ll quilt them together in [...]
She woke up with her left foot–
tripped on cold linoleum,
her heartspace encased in porcelain.
Took a brittle ride on the Blue train,
a straight shot to Little Five Points,
no kiss ride to Red line,
instead it was switch time,
then climbed into sunlight
at Ponce de Leon.
A short stroll to the Majestic.
She ordered apple pie a la mode,
simpered at her [...]
A response to Barak’s speech
Because he is both black and white–
African ancestry as well as Anglo,
reality for him is wider. He offers a clear
analysis of tangled emotions,
knowledge that unites opposing forces.
One side can’t be understood
before the other quiets long enough to listen.
Arrows of time reaching into the past reveal our flaws-
money, greed, the will [...]
1. I taped the scenes from this video on the same day. The sky dumped hail on us for about five minutes or so, and then cleared, spraying mist, cool air and sunshine. Afterwards I went to pick up Freeboarder and his friends, when we saw an enormous house with a display of inflatable bunnies. [...]
Ophelia Falls from a Bradford Pear Tree in Georgia (click title to listen to me read)
In early March a Bradford Pear tree
dilated with lacy clusters.
Blossoms like coronets sounded
an off-key note,
a scent only pollen-drunk
insects could love.
Branches lifted into sun-soaked ether,
reaching over the currents of Sope Creek.
Cold waters rushed toward the Chattahoochee.
She did the electric slide down [...]
