A Mother and Child Union A young girl enveloped in her mother’s arms, Completely at peace with Complete trust displayed, The mother holds her eyes open Anticipating the girl’s needs Her back is taunt, And strong enough to Support a lifetime of whoas That may come their way She rocks her baby quietly Yet surrounded…

After the Rupture In the beginning we knew only beauty and a single focus. We thought as one, moved as one, and beheld our new world through the same perfect eyes. Those early days unfolded according to plan. No map was needed. No parents to lead the way. We had only The Voice in our…

ANTEPASSADOS 1 A blackbird passes above where the world moves over the horizon, to the upper air, thinness beyond breath, shifting bodies, many voices. 2 Years of lift and scrape, slip and crack, the Siskiyou mountains. My gold hunter ancestors, their prints on yellow ore, memory of gold nuggets. 3 With beating wings, they slip…

Sun and moon in close harmony Stars brighten in the song Water flowing into hills Soft greens, hint at new life. Five digits pointing upward, Hand emerging from the earth, yet grounded . . . strength with possibilities. Birds in flight . . . dancing . . . Twin tail feathers direct the flow. Ever…

AT NIGHT IN THE FORT JONES CEMETERY When the night doesn’t wish to be darkness, the distance that divides the living and the dead closes in. A letting go moment, and her lantern lifts her ancestors into light. Voices call from the dirt, rise into the air of the living. They are all here, gold…

Boomerang Back Trees are colorfully painted In an abstract way Perhaps painted into the forest To supplement the burnt terrain Yellow hands Red hands Blue hands Brown hands Purple hands too Reaching down and over And up to the sky As if loved ones are searching For long ago good-byes By the boomerangs, One hand…

DAY’S END The day has been long for the two of us.Me, holding down a job and raising a youngchild as a single mom. Her in pre-school,trying to adjust to missing her mom.Finally, the day is done and it’s our timetogether. The wearing hectic day has takenits toll on the two of us. Holding my…

Family Partner My dog stares into the heart of me. Nose to skin she’s scenting what lies beneath, what came before. Her memory of scent is long and living. She could smell a cancer lurking, or a wish not spoken – powers that grow without our knowing. Airborne invisible specks of human scurf or a…

Intaglio Her human hand rises from springing grass and waves of earth through nets and webs of air birds released to a vision of sun and moon fly higher lighter as the sky is free. In Chiaroscuro Marisa Sayago, Those Unseen Who came before and you thought departed but here she is from shades of…

Maldito Emaciation, thigh commonality And craft of brush in hand Outlines torso and limbs A lumpy leg without joint pain Knee replacement unnecessary Under thick cartilage Free from arthritis…. But. A slight jaundice noticeable For Hepatic diagnosis Of the figure, assumed male Possible projection by observer (Who is male) Upon this body balanced on skulls…

Mothers A mother knows her child From the moment of conception, When a sacred bond is born. Bound by blood and soul, She risks her life to give new life, She surrenders herself To ensure her child will survive, She gives all of her heart and soul, Determined her child will thrive. Mothers are a…

My Mother’s Hands My mother bore the burden On a cold and snowy morn, Grandma heeded the call Into her hands I was born. From her hands to my mother’s I was handed into her arms. I still remember her golden voice Singing lullabies in harmonic tones, Her hands strumming strings, Chord progressions she made…

Passion is Nigh He pondered the dilemma The quandary taking over the night He caressed her over and over And whispered sweet nothings into her ear Their love was heightened by saliva Whilst their bodies became twisted She ever so lightly pulled away And turned her head He panted frantically Hanging his head, He sat…

Seismic Debris Just look at her face – that crack in the wall. Not every quake is geo-logic. But he’s on the other side looking the opposite direction. Maybe he felt the tremor, a shaking underfoot that made him sit down to consider. This crack in a wall still standing, but see how it’s bow’d…

100% human created Ekphrastic poem The Woman Dreaming There is a high wall separating her from him She considers the cracks in the terracotta barrier Wonders who the wall will fall on Who will be the one injured or buried She dreams she will be the one unhurt. Her anguish becomes a dream It is…

Too Far Down I tried to help. But how could I have saved him from jumping? This modern world so full of rooftops above hard pavement and bridges over tiding turbid water. He was only one – so many others! – even the would-be savior burns himself out. He was only one – all of…

This poem was not created in the Switchboard Connections workshop, but was read during the public reading because of its thematic appropriateness. What Do I Hear? Flat blue-gray rosy clouds Collaged against yon pale sky, Their deckled edges indistinct Save for torn gaps so sharply backlit Where the too-bright sun of ending day Sneaks, peeks,…

This poem was not created in the Switchboard Connections workshop, but was read during the public reading because of its thematic appropriateness.   You are not with me, save by absence It is night here, and I’m half awake The dim light is like the pale sensation That there once was a fullness; A fulness…