that's mrs. mediocrity to you

i want to tell you a secret:
silence is a charlatan and answers are for birds

the sparrow scrapes through a litter of leaves
looking for worm or the snail that will save him

today

but he keeps one eye on the sky for a martyrdom of hawk
and his beak has begun to grow crooked

he knows the dangers of complacency
life or death, work or hunger
boredom is never an option
fight or flight remains a literal refrain

the sky is a cage of infinity
posing as the song of room to soar

the sparrow knows the gravity
of thinking

he’s a miracle in the melt of mirage

he sings so the morning won’t be lonely

he lives to defy his mother’s odds

he sings

he sings

he sings

to tell the nature
of his story

.

.

A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month. Day 22
I’m participating in NaPoWriMo, and Writer’s Digest Poem a Day Challenge.

.

.

.

i am bent but never broken

hollow but never empty

spent but never lacking

.

my song is a march

and my step is a rhyme

my heart is a lark

and my hands are sublime

.

pain curls inside my pocket

a worry stone of wait

busy fingers

burnished hope

polished imperfection

.

i am magic without chant

gypsy without wandering

woman without definition

.

i am bent but never broken

hollow but never empty

spent but never lacking

.

.

.

A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month. Day 21
I’m participating in NaPoWriMo, and Writer’s Digest Poem a Day Challenge.

.

.

we both wear time on our face, proud of place
and days spent wandering
through little more than transparent
pages

nothing is smooth these days, sandpaper tongue
and hollowed out heel,
creaking bones in a cold-frame

of continuous growth

and gathered

seed

brittle remnants poking out from all
the wrong places and the crinkle crackle
of your presence

keeps me rooted in this place
of tender spring and brutal winter
as together we weather

broken shovel

and harvested

need

.

.

A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month. Day 20
I’m participating in NaPoWriMo, and Writer’s Digest Poem a Day Challenge.

.

.

sip sunshine on sundays and wednesdays

marry the sky twice every morning

root for misty maudlin rain

while kissing thunder behind brooding cumulus

dance only with cobalt blue butterflies

(they will always complement your dress)

allow the wind to be your daily stylist

stand tall in the presence of cold shoulders

practice the art of being dormant

scream with joy when the sun promises to hold you

become best friends with everyone named green

(they will all attend your wedding)

sell all your white dreams and buried memories

whisper grace to the stars that burn your name

.

.

A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month. Day 19
I’m participating in NaPoWriMo, and Writer’s Digest Poem a Day Challenge.

.

.

this is the way
we learn to love

inhale
exhale

embrace
release

compassion
indifference

respect
disdain

exhale
inhale

we learn to love
this is the way

.

..

A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month. Day 18
I’m participating in NaPoWriMo, and Writer’s Digest Poem a Day Challenge.

.

.

.

i am lost in the corner of distance
covered and the sun
keeps melting my ennui

this is the room we’ve buried, filled
with leftover promise

as you can see, i’ve kept every one
in a box lined with amethyst motion

i want a cloud soft as cotton and you
want to trust my dissent

or feather my decline
depending on the shape of stone i carry

but i leave the jewels you just cut
in the doorway of sanity’s sharpness
as i search alone for the smooth shiny bits

of drought’s unquenchable key

.

..

A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month. Day 17
I’m participating in NaPoWriMo, and Writer’s Digest Poem a Day Challenge.

.

one eye to the sky and both feet on the ground
the science of whole and the new math
of half

roses and ridicule
softness and seed
whispers and wandering
never and need

the filter worn thin
and the devil’s
tight grin

and the earth
building gravity’s fortune

spinning moss
for each gathering jewel
in a pattern of laughter
and parody’s waltz

forward left
forward left
sidestep right

black and blue
sharp beaked
shiny wing

half is whole
whole is half

and the circle closes
with the perfect measure
of preen

.

..

A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month. Day 16
I’m participating in NaPoWriMo, and Writer’s Digest Poem a Day Challenge.

.

it’s not what you think

it’s not that i’m wispy
or somewhat lost

transparent or
barely present

wise or wistful
dream or dreamy

but simply that
i’m always

{there}

nestled tight
between the smooth curved edges
of e and a

and most days that
l
is the only thing stopping
me from falling
off the edge

of the page

.

..

A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month. Day 15
I’m participating in NaPoWriMo, and Writer’s Digest Poem a Day Challenge.

.

you can float without walking on water
the same way you can fly without wings

sunshine has no color
but we always say yellow

my eyes are windows but yours
are a cage

or your eyes hold answers but mine
are a stage

and we dance to the steps
pasted down on the ground

spin and twirl
bow and curl

though you see jazz and i
hear blue

dishonest truths
playing loud silent music

.

..

A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month. Day 14
I’m participating in NaPoWriMo, and Writer’s Digest Poem a Day Challenge.

.

to hide the wall of never enough

i draw birds
to fountain up from dark trunks
and skeletons laugh-dancing in one corner

perfecting pretty and discarding
all the dirt that comes from
mining

soot and sanity brushed off
in time for dinner
and a habit

of sinking

.

..

A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month. Day 13
I’m participating in NaPoWriMo, and Writer’s Digest Poem a Day Challenge.

.