You are cherished beyond measure.

Each moment lived shines a treasure

Each breath given emboldens truth.

Honor and love have both been accommodated

Once one spirit has become two

without exception both have been satiated

I can breathe again, I set down my roots

deep into the earth until my fingernails are soiled

with dirt, bones, blood, tears; all tributes

to the courage I must engage for I am despoiled

But to breathe again the air of freedom wild

To eclipse the darkness with the light

deeply engrained fears; reconciled

I am blessed with wisdom despite

the depth of love’s been bridal-ed

but the groom had left the stable

the devil’s hands are idled

divorced/split; the legendary fable

What gift is found in your suffering?

What light is it you’re offering?

What is lost is gone from your sight,

But welcomed still on the other side

Adversity has no welcome here

Take deep breaths to dry your tears

Let go! Let go! It is in your power

though the grief taste thick and sour

Sorrow never really goes away

it merely transforms you every day.

I have lived among the sinners

I have loved among the saints

I have stood my ground for justice

I have been someone I ain’t.

I have dreamed of life’s Utopia

I have painted with the paints

I have danced upon the shores

I have exulted with my haints.

I have embraced my demons

I have laughed without constraint

I have juggled every season’s wheel

I have made joy and love acquaint

Shotgun wed to my lineage

water, blood, bone, and dust.

My ancestors still gather

in my hands so like my

Grandmother’s mother’s trust

Affording my ample body rest

to settle in to what is mine

to settle into the skin

that’s offered me so blessed

I thought I was a sparrow

insignificant, common, abnormal,

I saw others the same way

insignificant, common, abnormal

But my vision shifted slightly askew

insignificant, common, normal

I accept that I am the sparrow

but I am anything but

insignificant, common, abnormal

I am proud to be a sparrow

significant, rare, and surprisingly normal.

slow suicides

next to the broken

bits of bones

felled out of “the” closet

a they/them

confession

She commonly licks her lips, clisp

She says, “So…and…clisp, but, clisp…whatever, clisp breathes

You know, so, clisp, we were going to use the taxes for a television.

uh…uh… clisp

necessity, oh shit! clisp…anyway, yeah-uh

clisp, I love you too, clisp, so anyway.

She giggles and sings “I do it my way!”

I have to take my pills

and set the coffee pot. clisp

Oh crap! My mind is going.”

She genuinely chuckles, clisp

Buh-bye Dear.

(I hear the capital letter of the Dear)

Relentlessly the clouds abide

A breeze chill with arctic airs

put on like a fancy ladies bride

a book of songbirds prayers

a saint’s knees are beatified

A bless-ed state of affairs

He intonates the neighborhood’s

cacophony

choruses multitudes in imitation

the lightest of sainthoods

Everything good and harmless in the world

sits in the Mimosa tree

singing “Nobody knows I love you.”