No Sweetness Here

For years I've been
Your pretty china doll.
Pink lips, permanently set
Into a half-smile.
Glass eyes that always acquiesce,
I didn't let them see.
I couldn't let them guess.

I'm dreaming, dreaming.
And in my dream the
Mirror cracks, and I no longer
See myself in your mistakes.
It catapults a million fragments
To the floor and little Lily
Is there. She's playing
With the shards,
Hands bleeding.
Pulling them to her mouth
Like her teething rattle
And blood drips down her baby grow.
And you laugh, you laugh.

I watch your chest rise and fall
Can smell the whiskey on your breath.
I take a plump, paisley pillow,
I press it hard over your mouth.
The porcelain mask starts to
Slip, it slips. It falls to the ground
And splits, it splits.
You don't struggle and your chest
Doesn't rise anymore.

Now I rise.
I walk over to Lily's cot, I
Check her hands and they're
Fine, they're fine.
I kiss her mouth and my
Tears drip down her baby grow.

The Old Mango Tree.

I watch my husband gardening.
Under the shade of the apple tree, he stops,
Assessing his next task.
Surveying, with pride,
Neat borders and bright green grass.


Our garden was wild and beautiful.
Flowers snaked out over cracked paths,
Overgrown orchids and unruly Dahlias
Crossed Calla Lilies as they
Protruded through the jungle of luscious foliage.
The smell of jasmine hung heavy in the
Summer air, heady and delicious.
She would sit for hours under
The old mango tree, cigarette
Smoke coiling around her, watching
The sun disappear behind the grey islands.
My mother, the caged bird.
And why did you stop singing Mama?


I hum the tune she used to
As I put the silverware away,
An indigo life turned magnolia.
How I long for that mango tree now
A hundred years old, his strong
Arms stretched around me.
And who imprisoned you Mama?


As I watch him, I wonder
Should I bring him a glass of
Ice-cold lemonade, like
The wives on American TV?

Random Words In Perfect Order

The agnostics have gone
Cuckoo.
They have carefully lost their minds!
The profound and the loyal:
Are God among men.
The citizens and patriots
Are fighting the Devil in Dixie.
And in this world of
Sustained images of hope,
The shamrock and the
Sunkist face.
Oh the Sun, that purifies all that it touches,
Damns all that it doesn't.

Yesterday

Yesterday, I took the day off.
Not from work or school,
But life.
Yesterday was a day of no food
No time
No sound
No people,
I let them and their lives pass me by.
Let me stress, I was not depressed
I was not tired
I was not bored
Because, naturally, yesterday
Was a day of no emotion.
But today I rose with the sun
I cleaned and preened and creamed my coffee
And went back to business, babe.

My Shattered Sonnet

Time
Is the coin of your life.
And did you spend it wisely my Dear?
Tick. Tick. Tick.
No Tock. Time
Doesn't live here anymore; no clock.
I couldn't stand his face and those
Hands, no longer gentle.
Time, time. Time is not the faithful lover.
He is the gypsy who packed up my salad days
And sailed down the Nile
Without a backward glance.
Backward glances. Recherche du temps perdu.
Time is the miser, but I'm no fool.