Saturday, March 3, 2012

Living Will


("Ceremony Ashes" *from the "Impressions in Barbados" series,Walter Smith)

I don’t want to be buried,
-when I die-
My body incarcerated,
smelling putrid, like old
milk having solidified.
Sharing elbow room where
The earth worm has burrowed.
This does not appeal to me
once my life has ended.

Rather, bake me into ashes,
pepper me in the sea-
travel me free, like a careless
fish without purpose.
Send me off with your wishes-
a goodbye ceremony-
as my gritty bulk traverses
the ocean floor. This is what I’ll
wish for when my breathing ceases.

*Linking up to Poetics over at dVerse

Friday, March 2, 2012

Alignment



















The planets aligned today.
Just perfectly.
Awakened with the feeling
of being watched,
I found her sapphire eyes
simply gazing at me.
As our eyes connected
and my brain began to register,
her face delivered
a smile that vanquished
the remaining dimness
from the room.
And I was left without
my usual hesitation
to throw back the covers.
From her playpen, I
lifted her into my arms, 
she hugged me close, 
And the morning,
it became priceless
as we shared peanut butter
toast, she with milk in her sippy,
and I, coffee in my Snoopy mug,
the two of us,
snuggling and watching Franklin. 

And in the rainy, cool afternoon
such contrast from the hot sunny
day before, I returned her
to her momma
And went on with my daily chores.
Later, sitting at my computer,
I read how the alignment of the
planets-on this down cycle day
of mother nature’s bipolar disorder-
would cause your broom
to stand unassisted in the middle
of the kitchen floor.  I, of course,
skeptical.
But it did, in fact, stand like a
haunting, taunting me all on its
own, if only it would have swept my
floor while it was showing off. 

The witch’s vehicle stood there, alone,
for over two hours.
It survived attack of the two black
labs; it did not budge. 
But as we all know, the planets,
they rotate-their alignment ever
changing.  And consequentially,
 the broom toppled
 to the floor-the clank, pop of 
wood meeting linoleum,
And at that moment, my
Lucy Fur (cat) took it upon herself
to attack her food storage
knocking the container
over and flooding the tile
with chicken-flavored bites. 
So, there I was with the lifeless 
broom, sweeping up the mess.
I think the bristles mocked me.
The planets aligned today,
just perfectly.

(my favorite overnight house guest)

**Had breakfast with my favorite baby girl today.  It was a great start to the morning.  and my broom really did stand alone in the middle of my kitchen floor, surviving my dogs, for greater than two hours.  

**linking up to dVerse for the spoken word poem prompt.