To kill words with fear,
It’s a dreadful thing.
—Don’t.
“Censorship: What the D!ck@%$?” — blackout poetry created from
Health history
Health is a journal your body keeps about you.
Come here
Don’t spend too much of your life avoiding the sharp edges of shattered dreams.
O! ¿queso what?
What are flowers without the bees,
What of grasses without the breeze?
Nothing the wind if not for the trees,
Nada la quesadilla sin el cheese.
Blur
Aging is an exponential clock — ticking in runaway years.
Scoresheet
No volume of history is insignificant, even the worst chapters. Especially the worst chapters.
Every morning
Dawn-giddy birds sing as if every morning is a special occasion.
Paying the price
Wisdom is expensive — paid in life and years.
Saving books
I’ve been saving books for all these years, and they’ve been saving me for my
May you
May you lose a lot that matters to you
a few times in your life—
May you make and remake and
remake yourself over and again
and burn yourself right down
to ashen smoking embers
of bone and grit and soul—
So that you may always know
the pain of rock bottom
the freedom of rebirth
the hope of revival
the gift of perspective
the awareness of your strength—
May you lose but live again.
Mama-kisses
A mother’s kiss lovingly forgives the past, present, and future.
Lost & unfound
opportune words
fall into my brain
at inopportune times
quickly lost to real life —
not to be found again, i fear
’til some inkless paperless afterlife
In a hospital
In a hospital
it’s difficult to listen
to sad, scary sounds
“code blue” on intercoms
wailing, grieving families
beep-beep-beep of machines —
But if you listen
more carefully
you can hear
the sound of hope
of healing, love, and support
caring, confident voices
of nurses and doctors and staff
the din and melodies of
our imperfect and indispensable
healthcare plexus at work