Neighbor Boys

"I'll spray him with the hose
and you watch
he'll be meaner than ever!"
I hear the neighbor boys plot

"He'll hiss and run away
like a dumb dumb --
I'll spray and you watch
how fast that mean old cat
will waddle!"

They don't know
that the "dumb dumb"
sensed there was mischief afoot
and now sits sweet and happy
purring beneath the safety
of my office chair

How often have neighbor boys
mistaken fear for meanness?

As often as we adults I suspect

Turning our hoses on full blast
and feeling arrogantly vindicated
when our preemptive strike
is met with howl and hiss

It is a wonder the whole world
is not soaked to the bone

11:11

I used to hoard wishes

like a starving child hoards crumbs 

cast off as detritus by others

but precious nourishment to her

No one I knew put much stock

into pennies tossed in fountains

but I would wait and watch

the copper sink to the bottom

planted like a lotus seed 

beneath the gurgling waters

I was the only adult in the neighborhood

who harvested dandelions 

and blew with reckless abandon

(the casualty of an imperfect lawn

well worth the wind-scattered wishes)

A full-grown woman

who counted fallen eyelashes

as a precious treasure

and clocks blinking 11:11

as heralds of a Magic Time

birthday candles were serious business

not just some yearly photo-op

made more difficult as years increased

and lung capacity declined

Partygoers would teasingly ask

"What did you wish?"

I would smile and coyly respond

"If I tell it won't come true!"

Thinking it was a joke, they would laugh

not knowing I held a desperate hope in my heart

And in all of those years
I never dared speak the secret

that I am finally free to proclaim:

Every weed and smoldering candle

every eyelash and sunken penny

represented just One Wish

that came true 

the moment I met You

Neon Pink

There was a sweatshirt I wore
on my twelfth birthday
neon pink with white lips like kiss prints
splattered recklessly across the front
I have a picture of that day
when I put it on brand new and so cool
all the brighter for never having been washed
the color reflected the blush of youthful hope
onto my make-up free cheeks

I was all smiles as I looked forward
to a blindingly bright future
as John Taylor's wife
how proud he would be
to be married to the world's most famous
veterinarian/fashion designer
who couldn't make the tour with him
because she was too busy starring
in the film version of her miraculous life

The sunset tonight reminds me of that sweatshirt
the electric fuchsia speckled with clouds
like white lips kissing the sky
wrapping me in the cottoning warmth
of those long forgotten dreams
protecting me from the blue chill
of forty on the horizon
like the ocean swallowing the sun

The white lips whisper
there is time, there is still time
Project Runway is open to all ages
John Taylor has just joined Twitter
and neon pink is cool again

Impossible Things

I want to live an African Elephant life
A Himalayan Mountain life
A Giant Sequoia life
A life so Large you can't wrap your head
or your arms around it
A life that can't be grasped
even by two hands
I want to live a life so Tall
you need an oxygen tank to climb
or a ladder on top of a Giant crane
on top of a skyscraper to reach
I want to live an Empire State Building life
An Eiffel Tower life
I want to live so Big they can't fit me
in a box when I die
They'll have to intern me in a Legend
so I can ride into the sunset
on the back of Babe the Blue Ox
And when night falls
I'll take archery lessons from Orion himself
piercing the stars with my Mighty arrows

i want to live a hummingbird life
a wee green clover life
a spot on the wing of a lady bug life
a life so tiny you can put it under your tongue
and dissolve it until all of the molecules
flow through your body
a life that gets under your nails
that can be folded up and placed in the breast pocket
of a nice suit like a colorful hankie
i want to live an eyelash on the cheek life
a single pink petal life
an eskimo kiss life
a life so small that my greatest achievement
is a well bloomed rose bush
and when i die even a mint tin
will be too big for me
they'll have to put me on a leaf
so i can float down river like a newborn dragonfly
sun warming my wet wings
and when night falls
i'll take flight on a jasmine scented breeze
reflecting the stars in my ink drop eyes

I want to live a Both-And life not an either-or life
an inconceivable, improbable, unreasonable life
because the impractical dreams and impossible things
are the only ones worth Living (and dying) for

Amazing Grace

Grace whispers in a shaft of sunlight
entreats the rain to fall
turns the seasons
raises the stem
releases the delicate fragrance
and opens each rose
in its own time
you can not pry the petals loose
no matter how well-intentioned
if you work harder
you will only crush the bloom
no machine may unravel
the millennia of mystery
contained in a single bud
the petals must soften
deep inside the flower first
stretching forth from its heart
with an exuberantly painted shout
you can not make the coiled blossom bloom
you may only bear witness to its brilliant birth
and be amazed

The Bubble Maker

The marine layer descends

shrouding my neighborhood

in a cool grey silence

befitting my mood

while my body goes through

the agonizing detox of hormones

it had ramped up production of

just six weeks ago

The cramping has mostly subsided

but still physical activity

is a great chore

as it seems my body used up

half of its energy creating a life

and the other half rejecting it

The dogs are pretty oblivious

to all of it - the chill in the air

the quiet, the emptiness

they only know

that there are bushes to be sniffed

and trees to be peed on

and so expect their usual walk

I don't even brush my hair

After their business is done

I turn back for the house

but my youngest pup pulls me forward

his attention drawn

to something down the block

A lone bubble

with no source in sight

carried on a breeze

down a deserted street

bobbing along the sidewalk

iridescent colors swirling

The object is so foreign

the young pup can't decide

if he should chase it or eat it

and so stands mesmerized

until the old dog and I catch up

and the three of us stand still

contemplating the curiosity

It is an unexpected wonder

to encounter the unexplainable

popping up on the dullest of days

When it collides with a brick wall

and disappears into a small sprinkle

of tiny dots on the driveway

the grace of the moment lingers

and I am filled with gratitude

knowing the bubble maker

is still out there somewhere

Black cat on a sunny day

Anyone who has seen a black cat
curled tightly in a window on a sunny day
knows there is a multitude of colors
contained in even the most caliginous of fur
each onyx follicle bursts into iridescence
like a moonbow over Cumberland Falls
against an inky velvet night sky
A reminder that the intricate dance
of light and dark creates a beauty
neither could generate on its own
and while white rejects every red and purple
that tries to pierce its puritanical heart
black gathers all the colors in tight
dependant on the full spectrum to survive