If ever a quip
A witty comeback
Martini smiles
Wry as vermouth
Sultry whispers splash
As snare brush jazz
Taken aback
Night women swoon
For lost lover
Lyrics lie to cover
Her maiden in youth
When silence echoes
Through hallways
Living rooms
Down yesteryears' phone lines
Seems to me all hush,
Blush and gossip girls
Collude like fuel
For a raging fire
Lit by the father
Surely, to snuff my life
Out.
Blue bowls of bamboo
Nourished my babies for decades
Like chips and seagulls
Snatched up and filled
Hot, cold, spicy, sour
Sweet cereals swimming in milk.
Tower over me now
Year by year
From ruddy babes on breast
To ravenous bears with bowls
To one day flee
To leave this nest
Nourished and whole
Dawn on the day
I gave birth
To a gentle giant
Kind and humble
Keen and bright
Softly tread
Along clifflines
Sprouting heads
Bowed politely
Herald new life
When you let go - that little bird
Into the wild, unrelenting sky
One must be willing to never see her again
To be free means no burden of expectation
They say, there are other birds in the sky
The blackened birds that awaken me each morn
Alight upon suburban fenceline
Sing their well-known song
There is no one like the one you so loved
Love tended and fed, doted upon
The one who recognised your voice as you arrived
Felt the silence once gone
Until the caged perch to which it clung
Felt nothing like love at all
A mother's breast turns
Feeding the only release
Lest she weep in tune with child
How long will it last?
Interminable desire
To hold fast the nest
In contrast to view ahead
So wild sea eagles
Soar solo surveying over
Rocky shores, pebbles trickle
Vast dolomite column cliffs
Veering skyward - eyeing one another
Young ones too large for nest
I run errands to tick of time
Care package a respite
For a friend whom I like
Caring for other than bloodline
Though I forgot the soy milk
Now it's all I can drink
The taste of it like a chance meeting
Next time I will say the words
Until then, thoughts brew
Like a heady spiced chai
While tea turns tepid
At least, the sun and I.
Going to the show alone
One might consider
The loneliest thing
In the world
One, however, might learn
To love being merely one
In a crowd
When the onscreen drama
Is far from one's own
I'd rather be with me, than
In the shadow of a tree
Grown by groaning pains
Missing her former ways
I'd rather be alone, than
Drink down remedies from
Expectation formed
Watching romantic comedy
I'd rather go solo, than
Interpret someone's needs
Through the scintillating sound
Of the pleas of silent screen
I'd prefer to take a stroll
Cool and dry under a 'broll, than
Be soaked in untold stories
Of adventures without me
I'd rather be awake, than
Anticipating ache
Of sleeping next to you
Then, in a month or two we're through.
Sometimes love feels like
Forgive
Forgive
Forgive
Until it's gone
Then, only then
Forgive oneself
How one so accustomed
To heartbreak
Could mend and bend mine
Cure-all in one
Placebo the other
Pick which hand?
A limerant and her lover
Knows deep down
The match may cause to suffer, though
Much less than the world has shown
For standing on the brink of despair
A hard fall lies beneath
It might as well be love
That sweeps you off your feet
For on this feeling you'll soar
Find new paths to explore
Confusion sets in when alone on the moors
Looking back, you always were
Giggle
Appear older, naive
Ask of other's realities
Deny one's own
Speak well of all authority
Dwell in the home
Wear brown, baggy clothing
No colour or lipstick
Kiss your mother goodbye
Hug anyone who asks for it
Do not resist the crowd
Silence a quiet scream
Obedience a vow
