Morning Thimble Of Joe

"that spider is hanging out
by my coffee mug again,"
she exclaimed.

"maybe it's addicted?"
her friend offered.

"maybe," she said slowly.
"ooo, this would make a
great children's story!"

"it would be about a spider,
charles b. spiderfangs, that
fell into some coffee and went
wild spinning webs
everywhere until it was
so tired, it needed to take a nap."

her friend paused, smiled and said,
"i dig it though maybe
chuck should consider switching
to decaf at some point.

"studies show that increased
amounts of caffeine in
spider's system can really
mess with web construction"

Ceiling Swimmer

National Gallery of Art, July 2008.

"there's a swimmer on the ceiling,"
she exclaimed excitedly.
"how cool is that? i wonder if he's
doing laps or just enjoying the scenery?"

"what are you talking about,"
her friend asked as she snapped pictures.

"up there...on the ceiling!" she said,
pointing emphatically.
"i think he's doing the lap turn now."

her friend shook his head in disbelief.
"oh, to live in your brain for a day."

she giggled and replied,
"do you think you could handle it?"

her friend paused and considered the question.
"well, only if i was given a seat belt
and an eject button."

she giggled.
"no worries. i am SURE
my imagination can accommodate your requests."

"oh, i'm sure it can, too,"
he replied with a wry smile.

Women on a Bench

as she left the grocery store,
she noticed three elderly women
sitting on a bench and taking in
the swiftly moving world
of carts and disposable starbucks coffee cups.

their wrinkles, penciled in eyebrows --
slightly smudged -- faded red lipstick
and bouffant hairdos were a mixture
of the past and present.

but their eyes missed nothing.

they saw her and smiled
and she felt as if she had encountered
the three graces in disguise.

one of them winked at her
as she formed the thought
and she suddenly felt infused
with a surge of poetry and
pretty phrases.

and, so, it seemed only
right that she should write this for them
as an offering for their gift of creativity.

Alpha Male in the Headlights

he wrote her to tell
her that his most recent date
was an utter fiasco.

"she was cute as a button
but MEAN," he confided.
"i'm experiencing post-status fall...fell.
help."

"sounds like little kitty had claws, man"
she replied.
"i'm so sorry."

"emotions, like inflammation and trains,
cannot be stopped on a dime,"
he said.

"i've just got a weak spot for girls who
have spark and dig the outdoors.

"all higher order processing just stops
and i'm like a deer in headlights.
serves me right for not asserting
alpha status with her sooner," he added.

even though he couldn't hear her
she nodded in sympathy but knew
that even a declaration of alpha status wouldn't
protect him from the headlight effect.

she just hoped he'd discover the difference
between a mack truck and
a tandem mountain bike.

Grown-Up Dreams

she told her that
when she wanted
to be a mermaid
when she grew up.

"and, i want a purple sparkly tail,"
the five-year-old declared
with utmost seriousness.

"you do?" she replied
as the five-year-old
looked up at her with stubborn hope.

"well, i think that would be beautiful,"
she said with a quick smile.
"i hope it has lots of sparkles."

"me, too," said the five-year-old
as she skipped off to play.

and she paused to consider how many
grown-ups were out there walking
around as super heroes, dinosaurs,
ballet dancers and astronauts
without even knowing it anymore.

continuing on with her day,
she dusted off her fairy wand
and sprinkled pixie dust wherever
she went, hoping to remind others
to wake up to their own five-year-old dreams.

Warm Honeyed Love

"hi there, sweet pea,"
their voices rang down the corridor
and she saw their familiar waddles
before the sound of their combined greeting
filled her ears.

"hello, ms. pat. ms. queenie,"
she called in return, smiling.

and so it was like this every night
and had been for months.

because just when she was entering
a new chapter of her life,
filled with so much raw newness,
they were there to catch her.

and the warmth she experienced
from these women
was like nothing she'd previously felt.

she could only describe it as
being enveloped in a warm, sweet honey
which buoyed her pain and
slowly healed everything.

and she, in turn,
surrendered everything for this nightly dose
of grandmotherly love and
declared it better than another other balm
she had ever known.

Motorcycle

she had the pleasure recently
of riding around town
on a very fast suzuki gsx-r.

"oh, this is SO much fun,"
she exclaimed while squealing like
a four-year-old as he raced down the highway.
"i'm so glad you like it,"
he said at the next red light,
leaning her way in order to catch her words.

"are you kidding?" she said merrily.
"i want my own!
i am officially addicted!"

and as he lurched into traffic
she closed her eyes and saw herself
with a bike of her own,

happily sporting a snappy red leather jacket,
weathered frye boots,
and racing the boys for pink slips
during the last days of a halcyon summer.

Musings for a Thursday afternoon

So, it's a TH afternoon and I'm off to sleep soon. I find myself still a tad jet lagged after my recent overseas trip (half way around the world), BUT I do have more poems and longer musings forthcoming. Scout's honest truth.

Thinking of sleep makes me think of dreaming -- 'tis a very happy thought indeed. Currently, I'm taking a dream course and I can't wait to write more about what I'm learning and discovering in it. I am fascinated by my dreams and the figures/animals I meet there. Are YOU dreaming??? Keeping a dream journal? If not, I highly recommend it.

Mistress Creator

they spoke of the universe
and she wondered if she had created him
or if it was mere chance that
they happened upon each other.

"a coincidence?" he offered.

"but i don't believe in coincidences,"
she said. "i have been desiring
someone like you, first in my dreams
and then in waking life,
for some time."

"and i think the universe finally
decided to grant me my many
years worth of star wishes."

Caelum Walking

milan, september 2008

milanese duomo --
she walked along the spine of the church

and inched vertebratically towards
its space of miracles.

standing in the sky,
she breathed in an ancient city
and marveled at carved pink marble
and the moxie of medieval hands.

gargoyles and silent guards studied her as she passed,
and gently whispered suggestions as to
how to build her own life

now that word was out that
she had stripped the scaffolding
from her soul and finished
her inner remodeling.

Flutterings

she had flown in on the
winds of a hurricane
and found herself
in terra nuova.

the chrysalis now removed,
delicate gossamer wings
stretched in newer sun.

later, on her first flight,
she paused to look into a pool of water
and was delighted to learn
she was really a pretty
yellow flutterby,

merely pausing to catch her breath
before heading out on a new adventure.

City

she went to the
'land of fire'
to discover the pulse
of a people

who build friendship with bread
and seal bonds with vodka

in a layered city full
of scars and walls --

the aorta of a people's heart.

A New Garden

perhaps it was only when
she visited the orphanage of her soul
and mothered the lost parts of herself
that she blossomed into woman.

and because she had
chosen to claim this name
as her own,
she was given man

and met him on a plane
where their equalities mingled
and childhood was tucked away --

not forgotten but rather transformed.

Zed -- Reptilian Fashion Plate

she had never thought
to name her internal reptilian naysayer.

so, she sat down with
some paint and brought her little
purple companion to life.

apparently, as she came to learn,
his name was "zed" and
he had a thing for pink polka dots.
"i like their whimsical effect,"
he declared.

"anything else?" she asked curiously.

"yeah," he grinned.
"whenever i get really annoying
it probably means i just need a yellow gumdrop
and maybe a belly rub."

he thought for a second.

"oh, and maybe a hug.
'cuz it's not easy being a purple
reptilian naysayer, you know.
i need love, baby."

and she giggled,
thinking they were going
to get along just fine.

Twinkle Toes

she skipped like
a four-year-old
through the post office
parking lot, proudly
showing off her new sparkly silver shoes.

an older gentlemen grinned
and held the door for her saying,
"it's always a good idea to start
one's saturday morning
by following a little sprite's
happy silver shoes into the post office."

and she giggled, happily
sharing some of her fairy dust with him
as she breezed in to mail her letters.

Dance Like A Star

he told her that perhaps
some star was thanking them,
and she smiled at the thought.

it delighted her to think
that somewhere in the universe
a star was dancing out its joy
of their meeting
to the rhythm of some cosmic stomp.

Decaf!

"i really like what you've done
so far," she said with a pause,
"but it could be just a little less caffeinated."

they giggled.

and this is why she loved her friend
because she could say things like
'be more herbal' and
her friend would just get it.

Horse Whisperer

"i'm a wild horse,"
she said.

"hey, i'm not a bridle
or a saddle,"
he replied.

"just think of me like the wind.
you'll still feel me except i won't leave a mark."

Helo Operator

"i wanted to be a
helicopter pilot," her aunt said,
"until i learned about all
the math requirements."

"so, now i'm a hairdresser."

her voice became wistful and
she knew she was dreaming
of flying the montana skies
in a blackhawk,

parking it at the local
beauty supply store
while she browsed for specials.

Sister Scavenger

i lost part of my foot
in a bike accident
and asked my sister
go look for the pieces.

she never found them,
but i still laugh today
thinking how sweet
she was to scour the sidewalks,

searching for pieces of me.

A New Kind Of Food Network

monsters used to chase
her in her dreams
until the day she ate one.

i never asked her
if it needed any seasoning.

Tea? En garde!

"there's this elderly couple
who lives near me,
and they're always tending
to their garden," she sighed.
"i wish i knew them."

"well, what if they only looked pleasant?"
her friend asked.
"what if they were really
dart throwing gardeners?"

she thought for a second.

"well, i'd still want to know them,"
she replied.
"i just wouldn't stay for tea."