Singers

“A poem cannot stop a bullet. A novel can’t diffuse a bomb. But we are not helpless. We can sing the truth and name the liars.” – Salman Rushdie

There was a reed in her voice
this woman who loved me
unconditionally. A trill
and a pause and praising
the beauty of a spider’s
web, intricate and fine-
the makings of a bird’s nest
woven with the
joy of cross-stitch
an artist’s dream of
what the world could be.

It is what we have to do
isn’t it? Even if our voices are
thin and unsubstantial –
our sound – just the chip
of a sparrow or warbler
in fall, still vibrant and there –

always there no matter
the storm set against us
whether the schemes of the
kings of industry or the
antics of the clowns
In robes, we shall
keep on singing. And
telling the truth
as always.

7-2023

Cormorant

“Zhang Zhan risked everything to report on Covid-19 when it first appeared in Wuhan, China. In February 2020, she decided to travel to Wuhan as a citizen journalist in order to provide on-the-ground information about what was happening there. The former lawyer took to social media, reporting how government officials had detained independent reporters and harassed families of Covid-19 patients.

Zhang Zhan went missing in Wuhan in May 2020. She had been taken by the Chinese authorities and detained in Shanghai. The judge sentenced her to four years in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”. The authorities refuse to let her see her family.” – Amnesty International #freezhangzhan

“Taliban security forces fanned out to some universities and informal learning centers in Kabul on Wednesday, teachers said, enforcing an edict issued the night before that appears to have banned most females from any education beyond the sixth grade.” – NPR December 21, 2022

We have a bad rap
don’t we? arms wide
drying and wanting
everything –
books to read
stories to write
learning and independence
and getting
nothing but a bad rap
when we want to walk the
street alone
tsk, tsk little girls need
brothers and fathers
and old husbands to
decide everything
in their lives

We get a bad rap
don’t we?
when we spread
our wings
open to the sky
the sun
drying off the
water as
it clings to us
weight shutting us
down

Always juxtaposition
extinction or
plenty
we have had both
haven’t we?
and all we want
is a bite
just a bite to
satisfy hunger – the
itch for a fish
or a bit of
wisdom
but of course
there are those
who would
clip our wings
stifle and soak
us to the point
where we
cannot even
crawl

Cruelty can be
intentional or
just plain ignorant
yet, however it occurs
it is deadly to those
who are only
being themselves
as they were born
and yet and yet
those webbed feet
of yours this
propensity to trespass
foolish bird
silly girl
go to the back
of the classroom
sidle right out
the door
they never wanted
you here did they
I guess you’ll
just have to make
a life of your own
outside the norm
spread those wings
of yours anyways

1-2023

History lessons

Obfuscation is necessary here
hide those pesky facts
in plain sight if need be
a truth told slant
in a world on fire
floods everywhere
prevarication all over
the place

Mamie Till stood
her ground –
she let the image
of her son’s face
tell the story
and what a story
it was
must have been
if they are still
intent on lying
about it
obfuscation –
that is what it is all
about

2023

What remains

Achilles heel
from some previous century
Sisyphus and a rock
with the lesson of pride
Cassandra’s warning
unheeded as ever
Ariadne’s thread
or how to escape
Medea and her children
where vengeance is brutal
Judith with a head is just a
warrior woman unleashed
Portia in her eloquence
Isabel in her silence
Quixote with a windmill
Giverny’s gardens with
irises of upturned heads
Moonlight Sonata
haunting the forever
David all
curves and perfection
Tikal
The Great Sphinx
how pyramids evoke splendor

A woman who is arrested
for sitting down
An unarmed student
facing a tank
Mothers who gather
for the disappeared
The guillotine execution of
the White Rose

Despots come and go
each one forgotten when
the next one comes along

The destination doesn’t matter
it is the getting there
which remains
over and over again

1/2024

Profiles no courage

Your kitchen smells of
wisp and flame
fanning a lie
of borders to
divide

It is not the hearth
at my grandmother’s
farm
with scent of molasses
lack of running water
and spark
she never missed a beat
this woman who could
not swim
rowed a boat to a
one-room schoolhouse
to teach

What magic can
you weave other
than sorrow for
what we lose
in our addiction to
prevarication?

Oh, so now you
step down – you
who could have
stopped it
before death threats
ruled the world
of all of us
who are ordinary

How do you keep
garlic mustard from
capturing the wild?
Pull it up from the root
lest it spread and spread
gardening is hard work
obviously- since you
couldn’t even be bothered
to try

Not every man is
spineless – kissing
fanny instead of
his wife

My mother was
the treasure
the diamond of
my father’s life
He knew her worth
he did but

You? Where does
vow and oath
disappear to
when courage slips
through a drain
like an alligator
into a pond?

I am my mother’s
daughter who belonged
to Finky* who
confronted snakes and
rats and bees
canned and sewed
and saved children
from angry cows
This is my legacy
Watch out!
Here I come!

3/2024

*My grandmother’s nickname

Justice Taney presides

The male lion
will stalk the female
kill her young
if they do not
belong to him
he will rape her
leave her
primal in all
he does
and he is left
under the foot
of extinction from
another primal
species

Audacious for sure
this claim of
civilization
virtue when the
evidence belies it
for the primal urge
is witnessed in
the DNA passed
down generation
to generation
same old same old

Some things just
don’t change

5/2024

Dipping

Not a chance here –
in the land of the
midnight sun
I am going to find you –
you of the black leg
gull-like presence
beat of your own
wings lifting
m-shaped
over and over

The lust for
freedom is
everywhere
even an earwig
curled in the lettuce
will escape with
an imperceptible
breath

Sometimes you just
have to miss
that connection – ball
to bat
to make the hit
all the sweeter
Sometimes it isn’t
about the win
sometimes it is
the effort
that counts

Summer 2024

Librarian and bird

The wren is
nesting again
her first brood
of babes flew
into the elder
and pine
weeks ago
and now she
has found a
new cavity
closer to me
where I watch
her come and go
twig and branch
will lead to more
flight

It is flight
we are fascinated
with isn’t it? –
the ability
to escape
the burning of
Morrison
Twain
Rushdie
even that bridge
to Terabithia can’t
be crossed safely

It is my mother’s
voice I hear
during the chocolate
wars – read
Anne
read

7-13/2024

But

She doesn’t know
everything
but
every woman knows

the hula hoop – you
move your hips
to keep it moving
faster
lighter

pick up jacks
you must be fast
with sleight of hand
if you can

no
she isn’t
ignorant
she doesn’t know
everything
but
every woman knows

harder
longer
you must work
and if your
skin is a darker
hue
oh my dear
your day’s
not through

she doesn’t know
everything
but
every woman knows

what she must do
would tank
the old boys

yep that’s
true

Summer/2024