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Peppers
I can’t see bell peppers without thinking of my mother. A tiny woman, fragile, loose-limbed, and notoriously accident-prone, she could find the single crack in a sidewalk over which a thousand people had stepped without falling, and lose her footing. Despite her delicate constitution, she had a sharp mind, wicked…
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Blossom Whine
What grand intelligence is thisthat sends its tiny armies to invadeuntil every head is rent? What shameful mockerybids us to hold our faces highwithout support? We, who would preen on every breeze?But left unblessed, we droopand sigh instead. There must have been some reasonto craft blooms which must bestaked or…
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Miracles
I looked for you againin the garden, as I haveeach year when the light grows longupon the grass,remembering that momentwhen you lit upon my knuckle,your tatted wings the hue ofripened limes,and eyes like orchid beads,and wondered what you were,what passing phase—youth or age or in between—delivered you to me,and felt…
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Rowing Home
That sultry day,summer’s waning light,its grasp weary,anticipated death. I didn’t know it at the time,but watched you melting in its haze,thoughtful, with your oars,each fading cell a ghost on rolling glass,hushed waves. No sorrow in your silence,you seemed content to sway,and drift to shore,a thousand miles away. ©2025
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On the el’
He walked up to me,this man on the El’,a stranger,and said the Lord asked him to bless me. His suit was gray,and his tie was…I don’t recall. The essence of caramel tinged his skin,and his eyes,a feast of lime, maize, blueberry,intensified as he spoke—enticed by…what?A tired sigh,empty stare? I can’t…
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Motherhood
(for Vincent) Within each stroke,a shard of glass,each hue,a brittle stain. Nature, awed, cedes her brush,bows her head,and weeps. ©2025 All Rights Reserved
