The spaces in between

April Echoes

Spring officially begins in just a few days, and April is just around the corner! 

April echoes through 

     magnetic walls

laced with salt and bitter

roots. 

I will wait with you 

under skies of cream,

content to 

make sense 

of seabirds who fly East 

and stars that 

twinkle till morning.  

A poem for a friend

When I showed up 

drunk with sweat

after riding the D train 

from 

Albuquerque

to New Orleans,

I knew my presence 

was like a prayer 

  you     whispered     

        but never 

   sent. 

I fell in your door step, 

exhausted, 

but satisfied 

      because although 

you were too proud 

to ask for me,

being there 

was my 

      best gift yet. 

In Memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I expect

Last Valentine's Day card option

Order now on etsy https://www.etsy.com/shop/artandwords2015?ref=s2-header-shopname

Valentine's Day card -- Option #4

winter wanders

Love is

Love is 

these stamps

these stamps 

i asked these stamps 

    what was your favorite part?

they laughed and answered,

     we liked it all. 

Every single time

Every single time 

Every single time 

     I strayed from him 

and went to the arms of another 

I regretted it and came home 

         to shower     

and      drink 

what was left of myself. 

I've decided

But really, if you wait for these two things, you might be on the shore a very long time. 

Headline Poem 12/31/14 -- A tribute to you

I had no idea when I started my poem a day on January 1, 2014 if I'd actually be able to write 365. Initially, my poems were about other people's lives. These headlines captured and haunted me. As things in my own life changed, the news on some days became too much, and my poetry shifted, becoming more personal, more raw. That's how it works. There were moments I wanted to stop, but I didn't. It turns out I needed these poems. I had no idea that this daily practice of writing would become my saving grace. As so often is the case, beautiful things came my way, disguised, sometimes, as really shitty things. I have learned a lot this year, mostly about peace. It makes sense for my last poem of the year to be a tribute -- to nature, another saving grace. I will keep writing in 2015, and now, will have fun combining my words with beautiful art. Happy New Year! 

May your soul be sturdy, 

may your smile be bright, 

and may your heart 

swell with love. ❤️

A Tribute to You 

The day we 

packed up the kids 

and our lunches and our tie-dyed eggs

and drove through you, 

was the day small things started to change.

As we entered your sacred space,

you embraced us, and whispered that we were safe.

My heart raced, and then slowed, 

switching between fierce ebbs and

apprehensive flows. 

Your aroma is permanently

carved in my heart, and I can still smell

the shawl of acceptance you wrapped around

me, knowing how hard

I was trying to 

breathe while my children played among 

the Joshua Trees.

My bones thank you. 

 
It was there under the Cirrus clouds

that I lay down on you,

and became 

simply 

a woman in love 

with a man.

I don't know how, but you knew 

that I hadn't

really let him inside for at least

half a decade. 

I needed to be among the rocks,

and the curves of you to begin again

to speak

a language so long ignored

it was gathering cobwebs and dusted specks. 

We, in our own traps, were stuck. 

 

That day, we stopped spinning and 

surrendered

to being tangled up in you

and  

your soothing, mud-less breeze

of fault lines and ego dreams,

and we let go. 

We trusted that you'd bring us home

That was eight months ago, 

and to this day,

we are still closing our eyes, 

and pinching our skin

with appreciation,

ever so gently, 

always gently. 

Headline Poem 12/30/14 -- his dream

One more poem and I will have written a poem a day for 2014. Tomorrow night is #365! 

his dream 

knowing his dream 

is to wake

beside her, 

she follows him 

where he goes

Headline Poem 12/29/14 -- Behind

Behind every tormented writer 

           there is a reader 

                 feeling 

               the exact 

              same thing 

Headline Poem 12/27/14 -- dear mother earth

dear mother earth,

i like the circles 

that you make 

around the sun

each day. 

love, me 

Headline Poem 12/26/14 -- These clouds

These clouds 

These clouds 

open up 

places in

my soul

I didn't 

even know 

were closed. 

Headline Poem 12/25/14 -- A Prayer for Sierra Leone

Merry Christmas, or Happy December 25th! Today's poem is a prayer for Sierra Leone. It was inspired by a woman named Lynn who is working every day to help the most vulnerable in West Africa, including those currently fighting for their lives in the face of the Ebola crisis. Here is a link to her website, Greatest Goal Ministries, that exists solely on donations. Please consider giving what you can here, or to Doctors Without Borders who provide medical aide all over the world to those in need, including those dealing with the Ebola virus. As you celebrate with your family and friends, please remember them, and if you pray, keep them in yours.

As we celebrate the birth of Christ and gather with friends and loved ones, please take a moment to remember those living in West Africa suffering through this Ebola crisis and those helping to fight it.  I have only been here about 3 weeks and I am tired.  The Nationals, Doctors without Borders and others have been fighting it for as long as 6 months. 

Progress is being made but no end is yet in sight.  Prayer and more people on the ground joining the fight is the only way this will end. Lynn Pelton, GGM 

A Prayer for Sierra Leone 

I write this tonight thousands of miles from where you are, but close enough to feel your gift of healing hands pressed gently on humanity's skin. I offer you my humble words of gratitude, and a prayer for Sierra Leone. I have no magic to spread, but instead, cover you in love.

I pray for your loved ones back home who miss you, but rejoice in the work you do.

I pray that those of us who have a coat for warmth and a soft place to fall, give what we can.

I pray for the baby girl who latches on to a bottle because her mama's dying, and from now on that's all she'll know.

I pray for the business owner with trembling hands who hopes that by being closed, death will skip his door.

I pray for Muslims and Christians who are imprisoned in their homes because Christmas has been cancelled by a virus that breaths deep, poisonous breaths.

I pray for the doctors and nurses who hunch over patients one by one without a break, ships not wrecked, but anchored with intention and drenched from love.

I pray for the bending woman on the verge of breaking down in the bed she made, and some days wants to stay, but won't.

I pray that at least once we all journey to a holy place where the only souvenirs to bring home are strings left on our hearts.

I pray we do not forget you and your tireless work.

Amen 

Headline Poem 12/24/14 -- It's okay for just one day

It's okay for just one day

It's okay for just one day 

to believe in

the magic of your dreams,

to hear a melody of silver songs inside your mouth 

with cinnamon lyrics 

coming out,

to take a break from the 

deliriousness 

of simple chores

and feel your wondrous pulse

       beat only with love,

to awaken with a

starry-eyed heart and

sweet peppermint toes

Headline Poem 12/23/14 -- Winter

Winter 

winter wanders in 

with intuition & grace 

she knows 

she only has 

a little while 

to linger in this 

place