She's Old Now

She's old now, and crazy,
Although perhaps that didn't come with age.
She smells of soup and couches and Chanel No. 5.
She wears red everyday-
a sweater,
lipstick,
a sagging bra-
She says it is a friendly color,
it cheers her up.
Thousands of TV dinners beg for company.
She'll make you dinner if it will make you love her.
More mashed potatoes, anyone?
She waits for a question, any question.
She wants to unburden herself
on your young, strong shoulders.
Can't you help an old woman carry her things?
Is it too much to ask, she demands
of Bob Barker.
Is it?

Rachel

Rachel talks to fairies when she's scared-
they're always there,
and she's never coming back to the Midwest.

She reads Tolstoy and Carroll all alone
when no one's home,
and she hopes that someday love will save the world.

Rachel loves to laugh and dance to jazz;
she sings outloud
and she tells the perfect strangers what she means.

Rachel drinks champagne toasts in her room
to the new moon
and she swears the stars sing backup in her dreams.

The Rosebud

The rosebud-
tiny
     frail
          delicate
Pink cheeks flush red
in the morning sun
as she opens
slowly
     gently
          to glory.

How We Survived

We always knew to disappear-
retreat into our rooms,
close the door,
finish homework
or our chores-
when he showed his bottom teeth.

When he asked us,
"What were you thinking?"
we knew to hide,
to build a wall
to protect our tender feelings.
We learned when he was mad.
how to survive.

What My Bones Said

To me,
Laying in bed.
They said:

You're getting old-
     You work too hard.
           Drink more milk.

And I replied to my bones:

I'm twenty-two
     And unemployed.
            I eat ice cream,
                  That is enough.

A Mother's Prayer

I pray you know always the right thing to do-
And that you possess courage to do it.
I pray that you hold on tight to your faith,
That each obstacle sees you get through it.
I ask that the Lord grant you patience and love,
More than I ever have known-
I want you to fall so in love with His voice
That you know it as if it's your own.
I hope that you grow, both in stature and grace,
Esteemed and admired by all,
But more than that, darling, I hope that you rise
After every time that you fall.

Watercolors

I am not going to blend in.
I've never been one for mixing well.
I don't know how to watercolor melt into the colors around me.
I always feel like spilled ink:
accidental color on top of
the purposeful paint underneath.

The Roommate

You are the sliver in my finger,
the dust in my eye,
the bug that flew into my too-wide grin.
I want you gone,
but your absence will leave a hole
that I don't know if I can fill.

Unasked Questions Go Unanswered

The answer never comes as a shout,
you know.
It is written on the bottom of your soles,
spelled out in the hair left in the brush,
spit into the sink like a minty crystal ball.
It is in these things,
these small, small things;
they are all the answer you will ever need.

Due South

I'm looking for closure:
A doorway, a gate,
A reason to hold to
The lie we call fate-
I need some answers,
I'd prefer to hear no,
Or be given a map
To the next place I'll go.
I'm waiting here patient,
Well, I'm trying to be,
But I need the compass
To point south for me.