she was never flamboyant, instead grandma chose crowns made simply of white feathers, small rhinestones & royal blue felt she wore them hats with a dignity peculiar to southern black belles & northerners grown too prim to be touched soapy, her hands worked expertly to peel away white feathers, washing one at a time till…
Category: Poetry
single mothers write poems too
sitting here in the space where no one needs me no one pulls at me no one is asking me for anything sitting here with quiet on an early evening i flirt with the possibility of retiring early down blanket pulled to my ears my head buried in a therapeutic pillow designed to keep my…
be warned there is blood in this poem (although i oppose the death sentence)
teensy tiny little bugs take flight and he is filled with fright he who would climb mountains just for the chance to leap runs screaming from moths flies and ladybugs yes ladybugs dancing through air he sees them everywhere flying diving sorting through air it doesn’t matter how small or big or nearly dead they…
choosing again
i remember the trip to Cleveland the cold night and frozen lake i remember sitting on a velour chaise starring out frosted windows and wondering if there were cash enough for a last minute gift i remember being tickled to get arms length from a supreme dress and lip syncing to Aretha and Aerosmith i…
crossroad, a blues?
there are all these words floating around in my head hard words / soft words words i don’t want to dance with or chitchat about words that fill me with angst and dread words that block and stifling are reminiscent of rifles sprouting off in parking lots near city skyways where babies are arranged in sandboxes…
pocket therapy, part i
function in this life as a fully evolved being wrap yourself in the warmth of your own love dance without music laugh before the joke is told eat cookies hot out the oven let the lines of your face reflect more smiles than tears grieve openly and without regret walk willingly through mud without shoes and place dandelions…
a day of undisturbed tranquility
it doesn’t take much sunlight peaking through nearly parted wooden blinds the roar of a car’s engine passing by simple promises of a new day of play here he is chatter and possibility what ifs begin immediately my head is full but it is no match for my heart that spills over empathy for the…
alright (reprinted in memorial of Glenn E. Williams, I)
today is the 63rd anniversary of my father’s birth. tonight i re-publish this work in his memory. it was originally published in my chapbook my grandmother’s posture in 1996. alright sometimes when I’m alone i hear your voice my tears turn temporarily to laughter sorrows, i forget sometimes, when the only company available are the…
elevated anger: defcon 2
my cupboards empty of wine and chocolate the first signs that this is neither the time nor the place to be messing with my money anger has long been my go to and let’s face it i’m good at pissed pissed allows me to yell pissed allows me to curse pissed allows me to be…
Langston’s Church
Langston’s church has palm tress in the court yard rock is the standard praise theme and there are cup holders for coffee in each of the seats His playmates are the sons and daughters of factory workers university professors and the unemployed he likes that Ethan has blond hair and Isabella’s eyes slant heavenward he…
fearfree living 