aayoungmy mother is vintage lovely
this Kentucky woman
who displays a tobacco store Indian
on her front porch
makes tea like sweet creek water
knows how to pin curl hair
can identify horse apple
crab apple
and peach trees
who remembers what
flower and occasion
Sunday church
corsages are for
driving to work
sleepy eyes searching for signs
of life
rounding mount adams
on columbia parkway
asphalt nile
church of the immaculata watching over
queen’s tiara skyline
the city unfurls
buildings rising
to meet the sunlight
morning glory blossoms
in cincinnati
spring is quietly sneaking
on satin slippered feet
down winter’s hallway
she listens smiling
behind closed doors
tulips are snoring gently
but soon to wake
daffodils are whispering they should
arrive fashionably late
stock market bees buzz of nothing
but honey drippings and ticker tape
pansies sip tea
gossiping about cherry blossoms
who wear pearl earrings
too willing to open their petals
doomed to fall for a rake
old lovers hell bent
would have us dress in mourning clothes
.
for them
our dead love
they will never accept
our rejection of black
.
it is an abyss
a futile endeavor
tulip bulbs planted in drying cement
unable to blossom
.
no, no
we must never yield to this
.
as it is my nature
to move forward
grow toward the sunlight
moving my body
.
swaying salome
.
swooning to the music
.
the beauty of life in every note
whilst performing
.
the dance of the seven veils
You, insidious creature,
tell me how the fuck is it
you can make a daisy
mean
death?
i want to write a poem
using the word asphodel
as i smoke a j rolled with a page
torn from the electric kool-aid acid test
but i’m too young to remember
the things i know
and i don’t write poetry
about fucking flowers
father’s day
is the homecoming dance
for this grown woman
made from herringbone brick
daddy issues
a wedding march return
deliberately stepped
to beethoven’s violent concerto for violin
toward the white columned mansion
along walkways
of gray flagstone facts
the gossamer temple of my dysfunction
surrounded by iron lace gates
fences drooping
with blood red azalea intentions
a corsage of deceptive bougainvillea
climbs my wrist
wearing a gown
made from the transparent fabric
of a penchant for older men
who hail from anywhere but my garden district
chosen out of a police station line up
in the irish channel
my ill fated princes and usual suspects
who were crepe myrtle framed
not one of whom turned into my father
vagabonds
poets
musicians
actors
gangsters
swaying priests
clever pimps
and common thieves
even a shoe salesman
who was 17 and finding reasons
to touch the ladies’ thighs
whilst i was existing
in a new world elsewhere
still cutting my baby teeth
i’ve grown tired of their flowers
and the scent of poorly masked death
two people fit uncomfortably in a casket
time has given me an alternative
housed within clean lines and reason
but occasionally
wearing a veil of futility
my
horse drawn thoughts
return to the beautiful south
ken burns following behind me
filming a sepia toned documentary
about the brutal unreality
of it’s sleepy mausoleum streets
i
want
to
move
through
the
world
chasing
springtime
he brings me roses
i don’t deserve
and then has the audacity
to argue the point
with kisses
we sit upright two writers
upon
pedestals built of reciprocity
respect understanding shared like pastry
granted sanctuary floating above the altar of lakshmi
flower petals held aloft by golden elephants
blossoming abundance beauty purity grace fame prosperity
she chants her mantra in the sound of our laughter
.
Om Shrim Hrim Klim Mahalakshmi Nama
.
i tell you that the sort of man you are
makes me move my hands more gracefully
.
you sing my name
.
bed books pomegranates
and lovers laid open
discussing borges
poems read aloud in considerate spanish tongue
for ears wanton of love
.
a copy of the wasteland hidden within
ee cummings
we choose to be etherised upon this table
you paint my skin with your hands
making love to me on sheets of music
.
as we must part
we choose for our tears to become shillings
for admittance to the monster tea party
at penyfan pond
.
we agree to meet there tomorrow night
and then again forever