Category: Death & Afterlife
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the weight of living
1. Because they were loved and were loving Because they were needed and were needy Because they did not want to be misunderstood 2. Because they would not submit, they stayed, as long, as they could. Eventually the weight of living became too much They knew they could not wait long enough For the loving…
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the drowning
On the night of her death She happily chased The moon into the sea Embraced light dancing in the surf Body shrouded in seaweed Waiting for the moon to save her 7-13-22
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old age
Because the feral grey cat was not blessed with opposing thumbs and death knew where to perch so ticks could suck its neck, there was not one damn thing it could do to alleviate the itch. It did not lament impending death and went on living, hunting food, rolling in the dust, fleeing just beyond…
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Apologies to Kahlil Gibran
In the shade sat a prophet a spiritual superhero – so to say tired of a world always in travail tired of always being on call to work miracles they decided they no longer needed to work miracles and accepted death as their greatest miracle 6-25-22
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Eggs benedict with chorizo on the side
Chilly Mother’s Day, rock and roll elevator music overhead played bad. Traffic on the street honks off beat. Everyone needs a job, and the musician’s union pays well. Honeysuckle in the planter, sparrows scavenge breadcrumbs at my feet, dog dish begs water by a bench while families gather outside a restaurant waiting for a text…
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Diego’s wife
a poem written to the prompt: Ashes. She hoped her exit would be joyful She hoped she’d never return She patiently waits at home on a shelf Because they will not let her leave He swallowed a mouthful of ashes Gathered the rest in red silk sash Placed them in an pre-Columbian urn And made…
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Tread lightly on the ground
People of the dust Walking clay Beneath your feet Your forbears mingle there Holding you up Breathing history into pores of clay feet 1-13-22 Last Friday, I wrote and read this poem at the Park Circle Gallery in North Charleston for the opening exhibition of work by Artist, Pascale Bilgis, called, ‘Little Flat People.’ The…
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haiku at the corner of Brandon Avenue & Landon Lane
sit still and listen while leaves discuss transcendence as they fall to ground 11-18-21
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haikus of autumn
before dawn shatters its lamp on the edge of the sky grey night shimmers blue sit in the half-light listen to leaves rattle death as they leap in air wheezing school bus and noisy garbage truck disturbs quiet solitude lined up side-by-side children and olive trash cans wait to be emptied dry cellulose leaves gathered…
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Innocent bystander
On a sidewalk where song only shakes stained glass Between breakfast and lunch on Sundays Rooted in the churchyard cemetery, hung over A brick wall built to keep out unbelievers A tree hands me a note on a blood red leaf Soul skeletons are attempting an escape Unwilling to be an accomplice to a prison…
My husband's poetry 