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Layered Tegmen (Poem)
darkness moved upon my skin
quick as the eyes of the birds that waited
perched above me in the dripping trees
fluid as the fast moving snakes that swam
to keep me company in the estuarial brine
I left my childhood on those banks
draped careless as a wornout shirt
then walked away with this unseen coating
that called out wherever I lived
the rich soil of the Delta answered
by offering the hardworn notes of the blues
those sank into my veins along with Sh’ma Yisroel
that hung in air like candle flame in the hot humid night
the mountains also gave their response
skies so lowering and gray with rain
like night itself had come to drench me with bits of coal
grimed this textured tattoo
with the wail of a fiddle wrapped around it
barbed and rusty as old fence wire
older now I wonder what next
my adamantine sediment will attract
some silver flecks to shine like laughter
some precious gems to recall love
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For The Bereaved-And We All Sorrow (Poem)
when the ground shakes in these uncertain times
when the house no longer shelters from the moment’s storms
when the heart breaks from all it’s asked to carry
when tears fall faster than the flooding rain
I would hold you
enfolded in the expanse of silent regard
with spacious kindness for your grief
be a staff in the fog that surrounds the day
a gentle warmth in night’s unseasonable chill
I have mourned so many deaths and died so many times
that this is now familiar space
no presumption to guide, no offer but this
walk beside you at your own pace
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Where Do We Live Now
when the simple acts of joy
the sharing of music
the announcement for a party
the laughter over a silly joke
these have become rebellious acts
transgressions
we ourselves have become the violation
breaking the acceptable boundaries
by doing nothing else than exist
and then to be seen finding any happiness
though it be taken from the slavering maw
of unreasoning hate
is met with rage at the sheer effrontery
this is our fierce defiance
that we go about our everyday lives
