Thursday, October 19, 2023

Philadelphia





The wind carries cherry blossoms like pink snow 


Stepped on they became confetti lining the streets on my way home


It continues blowing, rustling through the trees while cars honk their horns to a backdrop of reggaeton


Lantern flies clasp the growing basil, unyielding


Ignorant they’re to be victims plucked up and crushed between fingers


Delivered into a spiral of dust spun against the concrete 


Snatched up forgettably in the current of air





Gardenia & Gold



Mid May opens its branches to the thick scent of gardenias and hyper explosion of pollen laying on the cobblestones in a brilliant mustard tone


Guitar strings play in the room above me, soft at first, then more energetic, like the Friday that warms from a frost to a sun-drenched solid eighties-era bloom


My walk home will show its grit

Replacing this beauty with garbage men collecting never-ending strewn trash


Deep satisfaction, the kind that comes from taking terrible risks pays off in the tilt of my head, the stride of my unreasonably long gate


Wedding cake floats from the baker’s window, thick frosting permeating the open air, reminding me that I’m not a Mother and have no celebration for Sunday Mother's Day

Wednesday, October 18, 2023

Courtyard




What I understood as he left the courtyard 


Was profound sadness


Not that a new day had begun


But that he wouldn’t see her for another two suns

Wildfire



The air smells like fire

The sun is gone 


Open windows bring in the sounds of a couple struggling 

Breaking up


While the scent of everything burning lingers on

“I just wanted to feel something”

A woman’s voice cries from the top of her lungs


A man’s voice travels behind her, in an unintelligible mumble

His clothes  filtering embers


Their fight fades into the wash of traffic

The smoke and fire drowned out their voices


Church bells crash in a ten o’clock gong

Saturday





Wind chimes sway in the breeze


A neighbor is playing the piano in the rowhome next to me


Churning out tunes that fashion themselves into the backdrop of a murder mystery 


Coffee and my soulmate keep me company 


Couples hold hands walking by smile in a sun-drenched greeting 


A lemon print dress that served comfortably as pajamas covered me


The courtyard is filled with lilac-colored day flowers forcing their final blooms


Cats strewn about plump with full bellies enjoy their casual lays


Morning pushes back from the breakfast table feeling satisfied prepares for the afternoon 



Raincoat




How is it I feel lighter in the city


Walking everywhere


The rain tells me to buy a longer coat


One below the knees like those draping the ladies breezing past me 


Exchanging afternoon gossip 


Dipping while dripping into the thrift shop along the way to ogle curiosities


Warming hands with coffee still steaming


I take a page from their book of living

Tuesday, October 17, 2023

Clove



She’s old now, a half a century buried in her book.

It’s been so long since she’s been out and this is a new town.

Older than her, by centuries, and tonight had been a long time coming.


Picking out a black dress, pulling on opaque matching tights, she hangs skulls from her ears and zips up black leather boots.


Her husband surprised her with a gift, one that promised to send her back in time. It comes in a box built of black, the contents require fire to ignite.


Dancing is the reason for this evening, to old songs that make her feel young again. Some of those out with her are young enough to be her children, though she never had any.


Vodka on the rocks will provide the courage needed to move freely among those swaying to a soundtrack that her life was built on.


And pulling out her black box, with her black cigarettes, she smells fall and clove, and memories waiting to be emblazoned.


Inhaling it brings vivid movies, crackling into focus, a night on a bridge over black water, laughing and feeling like everything at daybreak was possible.


She shares them with her old heads, and the circle closes completely. Each of them traveling through the smoke sucked into their lungs and exhaled into this night.


It broke her out of slumber, each half of her living in two worlds, the one she is realizing, and the one she remembers.