Chameleon

scaly and dry, the oil slicks from its skin
in my palm i could hold this chameleon
it would blend into the pores, the lifeline
if i wanted to, i could make it mine

but i would rather leave it to rest
right now i could do without a test
my heart has been tried many times through
i’ll put the chameleon on hold for you

gather it up and see how its small feet
patter across where your five fingers meet
it tickles your hand and tickles your soul
concealing a part, when you want the whole

chameleons are sneaky little creatures
filled with uniquely unusual features
a small prick remains from each quick nibble
what’s left of your heart? nothing but dribble.

Blinded

i cannot lift my eyes
too weak to raise my brow
you speak to me
i try not to listen
i try to shut my mind off
i try not to think
every thought i ever had

i cannot see.
i am blinded by the tears
that flow into my hands
the moment your kind words
have left the room.

Ever

if i write it here,
hit delete,
empty my trash,
tell my diligent software,
yes, i really mean it,
ignore every last remark
that i never meant to make,
can i be absolved?

or will these words,
cryptically clear,
be as harsh,
as unforgiving,
as ever-present
as everything
i’ve ever said?

Match

you have lit the match
on a fire i cannot put out.
it burns in my mind,
forces heat on my heart,
and lights the way
toward a new view of night,
allowing waning wisps of smoke
to entice the demure darkness
with their seductive scent.

Apology

please forgive me
i have sent the emails
that will annoy you
and make you want to hit delete

we need money
for our winter camp
our school’s plants
and everything that will
put smiles on little girls’ faces

Butterfly Wing

With butterfly wing in palm
Hickory nuts woo her through woods
And she asks questions
Old enough now
For me to be left incapable
Of answering

How can I respond
cotton-mouthed reluctance
Keeps the words
Trapped
Fearful of the truthful
Consequence of her
Coming-of-age reality

Her butterfly wing
Crumbles apart at
The soft blow from her lips
Falls to the ground
In pieces
Carrying my lost words
Back to the Earth.

Fresh

We are heavy with heat
With exhaustion bearing down
But we climb the hill
With legs we didn’t know we had

In the shade we dismount
Climb into the trees
With feet lusting for lake water
We meet up with the shore

A new day begins at noon
As we slip our sweat sweetly off
Diving into the rocky bottomed
Clear-as-sky freshwater bath.

February Daughters (2011)

Isabella

infinitesimally eight
you round out your three-day weekend
with consecutive sleepovers
endless games and dives
at Casa Bonita
and round-the-block singing
of Girl Scout songs
in your train of Brownie vests.

infinitesimally eight
i hope you will remember
this bright moment
of your youth
with these words you will
someday read.

Mythili

Mixing in with the older set
Yearning for forever-gone blankey
True to your matter-of-fact words
Heatedly demanding justice
Imaginative to no end
Loving the art that shapes your life
Inundated with the realities of school.

Riona

tears and sobs take control of you
at the mere mention of Daddy’s death
a death unknown, far-reaching
and my arms can’t console
the sensitive child
who needs to nestle
in his shoulder,
dentist-forbidden thumb in mouth,
your cries simmering down
to the ever emanating warmth
of his love for you,
his Daddy’s Girl.

Geology Lesson

If Earth really is a Slinky
as a geologist might say
then we’re as small as a pinkie
on Earth’s hand of plates that sway.

Zooming in first are primary P waves
try to beat 225 miles per hour!
earthquakes move in with S waves
secondarily destructing a rocky shower.

If you like the ocean you’ll love to meet Rayleigh
who’ll churn and roll you like the tide coming in
Love’s side to side shaking takes the hands of Rayleigh
collapsing buildings and causing the world to spin.

When an earthquake occurs, who is at fault?
plates move together when pressure mounts
just imagine a shaker full of salt
breaking Earth’s crust as the mantle surmounts

Superman saved the San Andreas Fault
a strike-slip fault along the west coast
where boundaries slide in angry assault
he pushed up the crust without a boast!

In normal and reverse faults, you’re vertical
normal plates diverge and tension gets weak
reverse plates collide with a crack horizontal
forcing compression that leaves Earth bleak.

Under the sea reverse faults thrust up
tsunamis from earthquakes worse than on land
the plates dive under–you might say subduct
going back into the palm of Earth’s hand.

You may think Earth is as hard as a rock
but geologists tell you it’s more like elastic
rebound theory stresses a fault that’s locked
friction and energy cause a quake that’s fantastic.

If Earth really is a Slinky
as a geologist might say
human beings are quite dinky
in the cycle of plates that sway.

Uprooting

could i uproot us all
for the fear that returns
year after year after year
for my sister’s presence
my life our lives their lives
could i uproot us all?

i wonder how much
you would hate me
you would learn to hate me
they would hate me
if i made such a choice.