I choose love

wandering the streets of NYC
I have a plan
to not have a plan
I slowly float over tiny brown puddles
waiting for you to get out of my way
sorry that was mean
I mean, I’m letting you pass first
stuck in between a black wrought iron fence
and a tiny yellow dandelion
I choose love
Yes,
I choose love–

Sparking Eyes and Breath of Life

Your eyes sparkle today
in a way I have not seen before
They move
like stars
on a cool night
out in the country
twinkling
winking
for all the silent children to be
far from any moving truck
bumbling down a hot city lane
distant from the potholes
or stagnant puddles
or dirty candy wrappers.
I find myself
loving you more and more
each day
Connecting with you
like a new lover does
like a moth to a flame
each kiss brighter and more
fragrant
than any breath of life
I’ve ever thought I’ve taken–

Tenement Windows

Dark, tenement windows
shade the inner underworld
from its already back-shuddering
indifference
soot covered, black spots
hover over the child’s head
as he attempts to reconfigure
the dusty red block
his mother calls,
screams, reverberating
against thin, cracked walls
and old, peeling paint
we’ve heard it all down
this street before
there’s nothing more
for you to take
or give
as Sunday morning rises
and no one can rest
scrapping pennies for
the day’s bread ahead
or lack thereof
wishing endlessly
elbows poised,
eyes simultaneously aghast
and convinced
looking up into the
cruel and
callous
sky
the only miraculous ballerina
moment on this same
tenement windowsill
as the sun already dips
before it
even
comes
up–

Two Souls, Two Hearts

Two souls, two hearts in one
How I long to meet you!
Moving inside me
I feel your body twist and turn…
which way, I’m not so sure–
the heart? the head? the arms?
your tiny little feet?
I also often wonder if your
soon to be
big brown eyes
are open or closed?
Knowing you can’t see
anything in my soft and dark
cocoon of a womb, I do know that
you can sense me, your mama,
with your wide open heart
as I feel you with mine,
all the time,
now and for
all our predetermined
eternity–

Love

Divine Alchemy (or Everything will turn out okay)

Divine alchemy
resting on the shores of the placenta

The child looks up to the new organ
the only creation she sees for nine full months
in awe of
this magical tree of life,
sprouting
pink, red, pulsating, bloody, veined nutritious glory
for you–

like a tiny elephant in the womb,
we’ll all bask in its nourishment

until
violently
gently
naturally
we are
(you will be)
e x  t   r    a     p      o       l        a         t          e           d
trusting in the sacred process
trusting in the holy communion
trusting that
everything
everything
everything
will turn out simply
and lusciously
o
kay–

Shore of My Heart

I only stared
at the wreckage of
Hurricane Sandy
through an 11×17
framed print
hanging in a museum

and frame after frame
my heart swelled up
overlapping with tears
The bitterness in me washed away
like your memories or
your front door
and I couldn’t watch it anymore

Painful moments almost akin to 9/11
so, I walked out the gallery door
and on to the next one–

Holden Caulfield

Standing on the edge
of the frozen
Central Park Reservoir
I
forgot where the
ducks go in winter
but
I
remembered
that I love this city
as
I
affectionately gazed
at the massive buildings
so close but
so far away–

Start a New Day

My eyes still closed–
blackness envelops

the bedroom and all
the space around me.

with my third eye,
I look down upon

the wax figure that
represents my being

and I blow air into it,
billowing like a balloon

until it swells to the edges,
leaving no more space

to fill, and here, I’ve
woken up, my eyes are

now open, and I’m almost
(almost) ready to start a new

day.

 

The Breathing Universe

The moment of clarity
that descended upon me
as I walked down the street
coddled by gray skies
and still swaths of clouds
told me in an instant
that I am still a powerful woman
a dynamic set of molecules
integral to the thread that
makes up

the breathing universe–