Mãe

she will dance to our favored songs
fill the mind's eye with smiles--
oh, such poor covers for love
as deep as the sea; or the
warmth in the hearts that hold her
precious as breath.

She will lighten rooms of the spirit
just as she filled spaces once shared--
where laughter yet is felt in walls and ceilings--
everywhere she touched so many
with care...

Words that cut to the core, that
made rock beneath the feet,
and children stood and grew to know
even more--such rare truth

and it is true of Mother as
of no other--we begin life
inside of her, warm in her womb,
with God's grace we end life
with her, living and growing
inside of us...still

bringing the dearest smiles
a sea of sweetest tears...
and the Love that made us,
and keeps us...forever


Para Mariza,  meu Bom...

12th & D

in a neighborhood where a border

ebbed and flowed like tides

the gentrified and the untamed

made an uneasy peace

like old cobblestone sidewalks and fresh pastel paints,

moments of smiles and acceptance.

in the near shadow of a Capitol

in the airways and alleyways

group of untamed boys become a mob

a Guinea Fowl,(--)a zoo fugitive(--) now prey of a wilding

amid screams and shouts, hurled cobblestones

a frantic bird an even more frantic hunt

While on the street, people with bright futures

people with dim and hazy pasts,  passed.

Shiny new car keys and day old liquor bottles

branded each; they shared sidewalks

but not evening talks, tolerance

was the watch word as howling boys

and clucking hen, acted out a scene

from an African forest…and no one looked up

to count stars or envy the shape of the moon

they were worlds apart here…on this narrow city street.

when peace intrudes...

the next war
has already begun, building
from a deep reservoir of greed.
It was planted by the last war, and bowered
an "anti-flower" gone to bad seed, sown.
Were there a non-fertile place in the world:
an acquired immunity to diseases of violence?

It will be fought for the same reasons
as the last, some nation's pride offended,
some interest curtailed, some strong arm yet to be tested.

Some new things will be, awful certainties
in glassy eyes that cease to see;
where and when they might be
come stilled, depite every natural will
every reason of beauty, every call to destiny
every reach for another chance to have been
some other time, some other place
in some other magic wish to fly away.

The next war is in the air, in hearts of men
begun as a trickle  to become a pour
until ground runs red with dearest loves;  and dread
is a stare on a shadowless floor, a voice heard not more.
in air bombs bursting....I long for a time

when reason rains to make  gleams of flame
when peace intrudes upon councils of the mighty
when love dispels words of fear spilled
from self-exalted thrones, beauty rises to displace
power fed by true angers for false injury.

A day when God's memory is long and men easily forgive,
learn the painful ways of justice: to stand
in the light of all we have done, offer back
what was won by taking breath and freedom.

I long for a day, when fury sits and peace stands
when ambitions of mankind flow like a mountain stream
gathered from tiny drops to build into a roar-
a voice within the mind's own speech-

that peace holds us, shapes and molds us
into something greater than has ever been.
Into a world bent on generous life, abundant years
the worth of existence measured
by its own boundless possibilities.

Public Opinion

Chased even in your dreams

uneasy sleep molts into groggy morn

every connection to wide webbed world

brings the onslaught closer

Public Opinion once such a passive life

a few sales, surprise products shown

your agility was legendary, but now

you are stiff and boor-ed, a starved fox

before the hunt

unleashed hounds of hellish amounts of gold

track you and grind you down, a Pawn

in a game of Kings.

I see you, your frightened eyes

rings beneath the bulged bags, poor eyes

once dwelled in beauty and laughter.

Now the war machine would again make slaughter.

Dirty burners wishes to suck the last of your air,

and heated days that were so false so recently

have burned your nerves to a fray.

I see you wandering alleys to stay away

from main streets, holding self close

in dark alleys where sounds of stray cats is all

Squeezed shut, eyes yet pierced by wireless spies

whose lies can only be detected by guardians (--)

asleep!! they have all gone to sleep from wine songs,

long gone; the sleepless pens, vigils of truth(--)

now you’re on rooftops baying to August full Moons.

I hear your once melodious voice, gone now;

comes like a drag of chains upon stone-

and the awful lonely sound of it- 

makes me weep.

__________________________________

Notes:

The US has been changed by an Supreme Court ruling that struck down limitations on Corporate spending on political campaigns and elections( referred to as Citizens United).  The Democratic process is now for sale to the biggest spenders if repetitive volumes of messaging and advertising have the predicted effects.  Public opinion once an elusive thing will be more like a target with a bright bull's eye- the target of unlimited assaults from businesses that would change us in ways citizens would not imagine or prefer- such as a constant use of warfare( war is a very lucrative business-Iraq probably yielded $500 Billion in profits), no taxes on the rich, no limits on pollution, abandoning public education-- which in the bottom line are costs businesses would prefer not to bear.  Public opinion- a trapped and hunted animal now- alone and driven into the streets...HDM

good bye....

there are frail limbs, skin that seems
stretched thin; palsied grips on nearly
weightless things.  Eyes sometimes far away

voice that seems closer
to that I remember than what is seen;
when i look at the bent form, age--
a portrait of age.

Yet with this one moment
we connect to many more, when she was strong
and needed to hold my head;

and the tears i shed now
are here for the living, waters
that my life and hers  have made

There is love in shadows on the floor
in the stains upon her teacup
fulfillment in soft smiles that come to her lips
reasons - not known nor needed

now, there is only time and breath
i count like a clock of ethers
my time and hers into a blend

sadness in this joy, joy in my touch
knowing so much i cannot speak
feeling more than i will ever say
of these moments-- this overwhelming
poetry ... of love, and goodbye.


for my friend  Mercedes...

in truth...

rising above the noisy day
to fill the sentence an other spoke
a question of the heart, that hung heavy
for a time; bringing the missing pieces
of a mosaic of tree limbs, sun and cloud

Underlined as passive evening fall
to darkness, willing accomplice
to moon and a little romance
when roosted silence merges into
song to welcome a cavalcade of night

bright planets gleam steal the stage
from dimmer  stars, a piecemeal moon
recreates silver in wispy wands
the ache of memories comes once again

to remind me of things to be done
and of paths I'd left--was dragged from--
still reside on the empty streets of my dreams
where there seems no one else in the world
nothing more important than your next word
nothing more meaningful than
air of passions wrapped around us,  binding us
into a moment, a touch, a truth of Love.

meteor...

firefly burns across the sky
so brief your light in a vast still night
where ancient fires glow from age- longs ago
where planets vie to be a glint in the eye
the verging tear, the latent smile
hearts drawn near, the withered miles
that kept them...somehow, passions mend
against odds, against life's headwinds

from where did you fall, shooting star
from a world afar that has lived and died,
from a sun that swelled until it burst, sudden glide
from a fantastic cosmic balloon, un-echoed
muted cannons, arsenal of dimensions far removed
we see straggled light of last flight tonight
journeys that began in lost worlds, distant yesterday
catches breath into "aaahhhh..." joyful, we say
" you are so beautiful..." flame to fade
to fade and fade away...