World pieces

There might be dark forces
currently at play
but there is also light

--
April PAD - Poetic Asides Day 5: purpose

About face

Sometimes I think he's hiding
from the world.
But I think he thinks

he is protecting the world
and people around
him by hiding himself instead.

--

April PAD - Poetic Asides Day 9: ekphrastic

Peeking through

"Only in the darkness can you see the stars." - MLK

In the beginning, we close 
our eyes. the 
pain is too much and

we can't bear to see

we stumble into each other
stroking one another's
faces, to assure ourselves that

others can't bear to see

any of this either, that 
when we open 
our eyes it will be bleaker 

than we can bear to see

So we peek one eye 
open, dizzied but 
knowing we cannot fight what 

we can't bear to see 

Black holes

I saw this hauntingly beautiful piece at the Portland Art Museum today and was absolutely struck by it; the hair, the ears, the neck, the shoulders look just like my son ... and the anguish just moved me nearly to tears. It's like someone took a psychic x-ray or the human I love most in the world and this is what they saw. Heartbreaking.

So, of course, I wrote about it ...


sometimes
I see death
when I look
into my son's face

there's
an anguish that
could kill him
clawing just below the

surface
of his skin
a zombie eating
his brain from inside

sometimes
i see the
look of anguish
as he claws at

life
begging to be
freed from the
killer inside, the black

hole
in his throat
that's so big
it chokes out life

---
April PAD Day 6 - ekphrastic