Night winds
Startles my roof
Such a ripeness
In season
Generations of birds
Tucked between branches
Feels like
I am – in
Nineteen eighty five
Everyone was home

Night winds
Startles my roof
Such a ripeness
In season
Generations of birds
Tucked between branches
Feels like
I am – in
Nineteen eighty five
Everyone was home

Does God have a voice
Does it speak in flowers
Must be magical
In a desire no less luminance’d
Than a birthing womb
A miraculous fortress
With no sounds or wounds
Resolute and most bright
-Motherhood


My skull
A spy
Must admit
That tomorrow
I will do this again
It has power over me
Like war itself
In this patriotism
Of self reflection
I am lucky enough
To have a glimpse
Of my heart
Its two hands, grasping
What feels like love
The day my mother married
Hers, weeped
Futurity of leaving Cuba, gone
She grieved her only child
All efforts to bring her home, futile
Through the years
And under a fleet of angels
I saw myself
Reflected in her
Superbly waiting for motherhood
Incessant fire, love that burns
Like a tower, in me

My dad would always tell me, repeatedly.
‘You don’t pick the wrong men, they pick you’
This always resonates when finding myself in that sort of situation.
I’m quite imperfect couldn’t keep a marriage, not for lack of trying.
Tried to give my sons the illusion of balance. That didn’t last, it was soul crushing.
My sons are now grown men, and have a clear understanding of my side of the story.
Yes, there are two sides.
A high percentage of women leave – to live – not to be with someone else.
I’ve lived, loved, and raised two men.
Empty nest, feels loud.
Their happiness and relationships, validates all efforts.

At dusk
I become
Part of him
Quietly placing
Dishes in suitcases
Light yellow
Leather tones
Such a sense of grief
When you cover my eyes
And show me
The inside of your world
Fresh footed staircase
Spiraling sideways
Onto the longest corridor
Linear shadows
Of a once lived home
I am not indifferent
To your pain
I too
Have traveled
On this road

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