Painting (Me)

Several weeks ago, while on an airplane, this poem came. I liked the idea of partnering modern technology with rhyme and standard phrases to describe universal feelings.  

 

Painting (Me)

This slight blur (that is us) rocks me to sleep -
no cradle, no hymn, no circumstance,
no story that is old, no history untold,
no rhyme. This slight blur that is

how I am with you. Is it wrong to
Photoshop myself a life? To morph into a
velvet doe-eyed girl? To imprint
myself across your lids? So every time
you close your eyes, you have to
see me beautiful.

Dreaming

Last night, after watching Drive, I had an endless nightmare. I woke myself up in fear, and falling asleep again, would be back in the same terror, the same dream. Every hour, until sunrise. Not a poetic inspiration I care to repeat, but, oh well. Whatever it takes.

 

If nightmares came true, I would not be here with you.
I would be naked in hallways or running from demons
and breathless with fear.

If nightmares came true, he would be here.
Forever my partner, clenching his teeth and sipping my breath,
we would stand frozen and gaze at our deaths.

If nightmares came true, my car would careen.
My home float to sea to follow tsunami,
My life and my dreams forever adrift.

If nightmares came true.

In Memoriam (for Jason)

Several months ago, a friend and mentor died:  Jason, who gave me the fodder for Furballs and Stars.

 

 

 In Memoriam (for Jason)

You would laugh at me, I know,
Call me silly and naive,
Tell me to bake a pie instead.
You would say you are as inconsequential
As a bug or spout some aphorism
About this life’s impermanence.
But do you know that you are loved?

You who guided others with your open hand,
Carried their weeping bodies on your back,
Soothed their fears with the balms and flutters of your heart,
You have more value than you know.

          (A butterfly, perhaps.) (A brilliant, speckled bird.) 
          (A dragonfly whose pearlescent wings reflect the sky.)

You cannot stop us now. You cannot laugh
us off or tease away our grief.
We insist on missing you.