Up a short ways
I looked in my rear view mirror
I saw
I could not go back
And even if I did
It would be more for me
Than them
And I am already remembering it
Differently

Taking a deep breath and easing out of the saddle
All persons in the room saunter back out to battle
A nod and a laugh, a push and a pass
With a smirk and a touch, a look and a sass
I begin my tri-weekly walk with Tommy

Tommy and I, we talk it all, and we talk it big
Easy does it, we’re a win on lock without a rig
We lock eyes with the Quad and breath in deep
Then ascend to two-ten for the intellect we reap
The balance between malleable mind and firm belief
Often makes us think like a thief
Flirting with the whiteboard, don’t give it attention
As if knowledge is something that can find me in detention

I’ve been told a mother
is the glue that holds
a family together.
In less than six months
after her death,
the husband has moved
someone in,
& no longer speaks 
to his two grown children.
His world is still
falling apart.

SLAP
me across the face
her handed printed
on my cheek
RED
as the fight within me was
HOT
SLAP
me she did
often in public
but I was taught
you don’t hit women
SLAP
me she did
outside J.C. Penney’s
before we entered
to pick up the photos
of our three month old baby
whom she pushed
in the stroller
up to the counter
and as she waited
for the photos
her back to the baby
thinking I was in sporting goods
I eased up behind her
and ever so sneaky
quietly rolled the baby away
to a position
where I could see her
PANIC

Now, don’t slap me again
I told her
in a calm
and peaceful voice. 

It was a year and a half
before she slapped me again
this time with a piece of paper
stating
Dissolution of Marriage:
irreconcilable differences.

The house was stark. Clean, but threadbare.
No books, few pictures, minimal furniture.
The conversation was the same. 
You would not have found it creative or inpiring,

until you walked through the pantry 
orderly row upon row of canning jars
tomatoes, peaches, pickles of all kinds
green beans, squash, chow chow
saurkraut, apple butter

lovingingly stored and displayed
here lie her true wealth and color.

Passing this to the back door
the tiny lot crammed with plants
vines climbing the fence
tomatoes carefully staked
every spare scrap of dirt planted
flowers peeking between the collards.
Here she beamed with pride, proud of the profusion

Leading me back inside, I saw a doll placed high up
I asked if I might see it
I could look but not touch – this was the only doll she ever had
Her father gave it to her when she was 42. 

How are you?

Tell me, “What’s new?”

If not the sky, then “Why?’

“Why the blue hue?”

Don’t worry

I’ll bring cheer closer

To your ear

So that all the while

You will smile

For me.

Created in his image

Loved like no other

Blessed with many sisters and brothers

Everlasting love within each other

Faith, Hope and Love-the greatest gifts of all

Then I see-God in me.

Questioning your disposition

I need to figure out why

I’ve an empathetic abrasion

Your plight’s akin to mine

Your eyes exude equivalent energy

Within my space and time

But I continue to question

I’ve yet to discover why

You’re inconvenienced, anxious

You close your eyes

You’re bothered by

A wondrous mind

There will be
no peanuts,
Kingdom Plantae,
served on this flight,
sang the cheerful
flight attendant.

Unless

you are seated
in first class.
For you the
snack tray will
overflow with
Genus Arachis.

Also, be advised
we do not have
potable water
on board.

Both offered
on a tray of
pilfered silver,
a polite decline,
in solidarity with my
brothers and sisters
in coach.