Category: poetry

Nature of Relations

Is this estrangement self-imposed
or does my awkward rapture
set me aside?

More engaged in recording nature
than in ordinary banter –
find the portal to human interaction
passing questionable

throngs focus on such peculiarities
while I attempt sketching relations
trees akin to cousins,
and birds happily possessing my soul

we are escapees –
alternate beings
charged with renewal.

(Sketch my own)

In Situ

Upgrading –
setting new standards
learning anew

Kin/ heritage
pursues me –
influence
and legacy

Timid concerning
the unspoken
the understated

Seduction courts
a response –
I am flush with possibility
basking in attention

But God is calling me home –
reminds me of mortality
humbles me in situ

I am already engaged
passion in the moment
dalliances redundant

(Self portrait created blind with acrylic paint and palette knife)

What’s Wrong With This Image?

I hear my mother’s voice
questioning my intentions
certain I’m not doing it right
this wifely thing

I’ll be abandoned, surely –
it all rests on a string for her –
if dinner isn’t on the table at 4:38
or the beds are not made right away
or the laundry basket, unfolded,
remains in sight –
then who blames the man
for leaving.

Six generations now
I’ve witnessed women fighting
for equality, for recognition
and still the old guard holds on

And now politicians –
men with loose jowled egos
and paunchy stances –
and so-called religious leaders
call for a retraction –
women’s lives at stake

Who will lobby for women’s rights
when the female voice is silenced
needs carefully tucked away
so as not to raise ire in her mate?