Even while I dreamed I prayed that what I saw was only fear and no foretelling,
for I saw the last known landscape destroyed for the sake
of the objective, the soil bludgeoned, the rock blasted.
Those who had wanted to go home would never get there now.
I visited the offices where for the sake of the objective the planners planned
at blank desks set in rows. I visited the loud factories
where the machines were made that would drive ever forward
toward the objective. I saw the forest reduced to stumps and gullies; I saw
the poisoned river, the mountain cast into the valley;
......
He sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark,
And shivered in his ghastly suit of grey,
Legless, sewn short at elbow. Through the park
Voices of boys rang saddening like a hymn,
Voices of play and pleasure after day,
Till gathering sleep had mothered them from him.
About this time Town used to swing so gay
When glow-lamps budded in the light blue trees,
And girls glanced lovelier as the air grew dim,-
......
I prefer red chile over my eggs
and potatoes for breakfast.
Red chile ristras decorate my door,
dry on my roof, and hang from eaves.
They lend open-air vegetable stands
historical grandeur, and gently swing
with an air of festive welcome.
I can hear them talking in the wind,
haggard, yellowing, crisp, rasping
tongues of old men, licking the breeze.
......
I.
I dream of you walking at night along the streams
of the country of my birth, warm blooms and the nightsongs
of birds opening around you as you walk.
You are holding in your body the dark seed of my sleep.
II.
This comes after silence. Was it something I said
......
This girlchild was born as usual
and presented dolls that did pee-pee
and miniature GE stoves and irons
and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy.
Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said:
You have a great big nose and fat legs.
She was healthy, tested intelligent,
possessed strong arms and back,
abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity.
......
My little Barbie doll
I am not a Barbie doll
People
God made me
With a nature skin
Some people say that
I just need to wear
Some make up
To look beautiful
I don't wear make up
......
i long to be seen, as soft as the sea,
with waves of grace, unspoken, yet free.
a shimmer of moonlight on neptune’s face,
a fluid dance in the dark’s embrace.
i reach for the stars, to be seen and adored,
in silken whispers, my essence restored.
a goddess rising from the ocean’s deep,
where secrets are hidden, and promises sleep.
......
Woman
You are God's gift to the world
Woman
You are
The flowers that grow wild
Around the river
Woman
The water of the river
Is flowing slowly
Woman
......
Reposed in shadows
within a realm of colors
dusty rose gown blurs.
All the flowers she adores ~
as gold love's beamed out of doors.
Green and purple blooms
are always in her warm face ~
'til she sinks in grace.
......
It's not like a rush of waves
Like I've read in those books
The innocent idyllic lies
Of fountain wishes and
Written dreams and
Patriarchal fantasies
All in illustration
Illusions? Delusions?
All the same
......