Poetry Month!

April is National Poetry Month in America and there is a challenge some poets take on to write 30 poems in 30 days. I'm not those poets.  I wish I were that prolific but I do love the idea and I usually write a lot during this month.  I already have one finished poem, two in the works and one or two other ideas brewing!  Here's the finished (for now) piece.  I'm not sure of a title.  Maybe "Accumulation" or "Acquired"?

Twelve and a half years ago I had a baby

and my body changed      a lot

my tummy that had once been flat became round and heavy

it stayed that way

I was devastatingly convex

I hated it at first and for a long time until

I realized that round is one of my favorite shapes

and that anything that has harbored life

shouldn't be taken lightly

Besides, maybe I look a little like Sarasvati

and oh, she is beautiful

I was looking in the mirror and chanced a quick smile

to see what others see when I do that and

there were tiny lines next to my eyes that 

I don't remember collecting but

I just started giggling with them and I 

couldn't stop because I realized

every time I've laughed till I cried

or till my belly ached

I was gathering those wonderful lines

they were there in the making every time

I saw a silver hair, I think

it was short so I couldn't be sure but

I got so excited because

I've heard that silver hairs are story hairs

so I figure if I really got one

it must be time for me to start telling.

Gay Marriage

Gay marriage. What's the big deal? A couple years ago I went to a dinner party for a friend who was moving out of state. It was hosted by a couple of gay men.  Aside from the impeccably clean and well-decorated house and the heavenly food, what I really enjoyed that night was the obviously deep love they felt for each other.  I have always loved seeing people in love.

    Something was said that night that really made me think and has stuck with me.  One of the guys said he was sick of hearing about the "gay lifestyle".  What is that anyway?  To paraphrase, he said: we go to work, go to the gym, spend time with our kids, sometimes we go to the movies or have people over for dinner.  What we do in the bedroom might be different but there are hetero- couples out there who do things that are much kinkier than what the average gay couple is doing and the bottom line is who cares?

    Well, that's what I'm pissed off about.  The only people who care are people whose religious beliefs state that gay relationships are wrong. So- when are we going to be told we can no longer eat pork? It's that crazy! And what makes me even angrier is that this issue is being used to manipulate voters and detract our attention from other shady things our politicians are doing.  They know that, just like with abortion, people will get heated about this topic. We need to pay closer attention.

     Is anyone so against gay marriage that they'd rather rail on about that than stop our government from allowing GMOs in our food?  Is anyone so against gay marriage that they would place that as a priority above how we care for our environment? Sadly, that seems to be the case.

    When you think about it, the whole thing is just silly.  It was the first thing that made me question government.  What does government have to do with it? Why would we work to cause problems for people who just want to be in love?  Why would anyone try to hold others to their own beliefs?  Why do we care what others are doing?

     I would like to think we're better than this.  We need to be better than this.  We should be thinking about what we will allow our government to do, not what they should or shouldn't allow citizens to do.  We're constantly losing ground, letting our freedoms slip away.  If we don't start standing up for one another, regardless of our differing beliefs, we're going to end up where we're heading and that's not a pretty picture.

    I am concerned about gay marriage.  I have to be because I know that when you deny freedom to ANY person or group, we all have less freedom.  When you strip someone of their rights because of race, gender, sexual orientation, or any other inherent thing they are, we all have fewer rights.  I have to support gay marriage because I love love.  I want all the people I know to be able to express their love and live in whatever way they feel is right.

    I want Americans to wake up and realize that what you do to others, you're doing to yourself.  Stop being sheep, stop judging and being hateful.  If you are strong in your belief, the actions of others can not harm that.  We have to move beyond tolerance into acceptance, of others and of ourselves.  We have to realize that we're all we have.  We're all on this little rock together and there are things happening that threaten our survival.  Two men or two women loving one another threatens nothing. They simply add to our strength by supporting one another and being themselves.  We all need to be our own weird, different, unique selves to see the gifts we have to offer.

    Please, pay attention, stop watching Fox news, do your best to think, act, and speak from a place of love, be creative and helpful, question what you're told, question what you've been brought up to believe, be the grace that you were put here to be.  We are all responsible for what happens in our time. Can you work toward leaving behind a legacy of love?

From Everyone To Ourselves

From Everyone to Ourselves

The chairs in my kitchen are really tall

so I climbed up on one the other day,

to get a better look at the whole world

I was like, "Whoa..."- it was crazy!

All these people, all the people

struggling in different directions

away from and against and sometimes even through

but so seldom toward

So, I took out a wide rubber-band,

 stretched it out,

and put it around the whole world, 

and on it I wrote these words:

I love you. I love all of you Each of you is worthy of everything you need and whatever you kindly want You all are necessary You shine with a light generated by every beautiful moment as seen only through your own heart and what's more, all the pain- and I know there's so much pain- but know that you were worth it Every thing you've lived through was worth you being here today You are perfectly who you're meant to be

and just as I was about to exclamate my point

the rubber-band slid and snapped off, went

hurdling into space somewhere, so

those words are still out there but

in the contraction they've become tiny lines

 that look like grass drawn by children

before they've been taught that the ground and sky are touching

when green is a line at the bottom of the page and

blue is a line at the top

But maybe the trick is, they know something we don't

because you can't reach the bottom branch of that tree,

not even on your tippy-toes 

and even if you could, even if you could 

climb all the way to the top and reach up

even if you could fly

even birds don't get to touch that blue

But I wonder

I wonder if the astronauts when they're taking off,

blasting off in those rockets

are they shaking around shitting their pants so much that

they don't even notice when they go through

 the top of the page?

And what if they're up there one day

looking down at us all 

through a tiny porthole

and they see a rubber-band float by

one might say, "Did that have writing on it?"

and another would answer, 

"I think it was just grass but-  I feel better."

Because it's scary to go off the page

to not have the blue and green

whether or not they're touching

holding you in

And maybe from way up there it's easier to see how much we really don't know

and that all we think we know is just that

what we think

Because as grown-ups, we know

the colors we see are only what light reflects

we see green because grass absorbs all the other colors

just to show us green.

So if green's not really green and

blue might not be blue and

if they touch or don't touch- really

all we can be sure of is that we

are way more than the facts

and what we absorb 

is different from how we're known

and it doesn't matter if you can climb that tree because

we're the same stuff-

the stars, that tree, you, me

And grown-ups have also learned that 

thoughts have mass

yep, mass

(even in space) 

This means that 

thoughts are things,

things that can go out and change

or not even change,

they can make this world

But we knew that a long time ago

back when they told us stories

and those stories were just words but

those words came from thoughts and

those words made pictures in our heads

pictures that were like whole new worlds

So, if I give you a story, know that it's real

and even though it's just words, I'm giving you a world:

Once upon a time, you were two cells.

That didn't last long. You're many more now.

And more than just cells, you're made up of

water and carbon and all the things that make stars shine.

You're every moment you've lived till now,

every promise, wish, and vow,

every silence, every cry,

every giggle, every sigh.

You're every smile you've ever shared

and everything for which you've cared

And you can know this now-

through your eyes and your ears straight into your bones that 

you  are a maker  of everything

however tired, however spent,

however much wind life has knocked out of you,

you're still here

and you're still creating this world,

and the blue and the green, they still hold you

and they do touch

like we all touch

like we can't help

being part of it all.

From Everyone To Ourselves