Some moments are mosquitoes
When such stillness marries blood loss
Or worse yet deadly disease
Quick nuisance carries consequence
Pinprick itch or pathogen
again
What is our cost for silent peace
-me
Painting: Mosquito, by RenisGallery on Etsy
A ghost photo seared
In my visual field
By the glare of the sun
A solar-shot floating
Blotting and roaming
So to is this love
A clear outline fading
Dark pinpricks remain
The damage is done
-me
Painting: Afterimage, by Lance Bifoss
Ashes burn
In a western sky
It is magic hour
And a full moon
She rises
-me
Photography by Bruce Stambaugh
I lived once
Unashamed
Until he threatened
Not to stay
I took on shame
And quiet days
With hope he wouldn’t
Go away
I made those lists
Of all the ways
My living loud
Had made him pay
Amends
That’s what they say
And yet
He’s with her anyway
So I lost years
And I lost spine
And I lost courage
And my pride
And I lost trust
And yes t(he)y lied
But even more
I bear the blame
I died the day
I lived ashamed
-me
Painting: Ashamed by Birth Petersen
Since when
Did I let men
Become
The voices in
My brain
Again
I am shamed
I have betrayed
Myself
Blocked my own
Way
Within
So it is time
Once more to see
Beneath
This skull
And meaty memory
What remains
Only revealed
If I can
Brave
A new lobotomy
-me?
Photography: Blood by laura-makabresku on deviantart.com
A moon-sliced ice cube
Plopped playful in a soda pop
I shriek and crack erratic
And begin my glacial melt
In a slow swirl of commingling
Solid-cold and bubbly-warm
Both forms of me, matter
-me
pic by me
A golden finch-hen on a glass doorknob
A mockingbird blocking her nest
The spring chimes are ringing
Each time she takes flight
Winter postures while puffing his chest
A sharp beak will glint in the sun just like glass
All mamas’ scared eyes look the same
We shoulder this season
To spite winter’s bite
Crying out for creation if even in vain
-me
Painting: The Goldfinch, Carel Fabritius
