Love happens/you are with your frail mother/shopping/she stops cold at a jewelry counter/pick something/you protest/insistent/mother voice/you remember always/it is not a thing/it is all the love/all the gratitude for the journey/in a moment/planned ahead/to embody/the fragile all important/day

Three trees ring memory/stand guardian/for generations/started small/tiny saplings/grew to proclaim remembrance/grew to sheer beauty/to cast dappled light upon us

The sun on my face/and dear life long friends/just a stroll away/makes smiles so sweet/conquers the obvious/surf jumping row upon row/of troubles/follow obediently and wait their turn/in a windswept anxiety of paradox placed on a temporary hold

One of the oldest/with one of the youngest/of our tribe/sweet wise expression/holding the precious gift of life/smiled prescient/ruminating gently/perhaps/backward gaze/forward possibilities/ the adventures life held in store/that happy day for all our beautiful/brilliants/ now grown/they are living/the dreams of the ancestors/wearing wise smiles as they travel far

Born to flee/born to see/lived as one who knew/the pain/connect the dots/would the world shudder on its axis/shift orbit/seek to be moved/for the image of a child of color/does black death matter/except to God/who knew and knows

For mothers and fathers/who live on/bereft/there are no words/every fallen child counts/and should force/us to change/to be better/globally/beyond walls and borders/to be better/holders of such tiny flickering hopes/there is much that we must do/after we kiss our children/making kissing occasions as we go/hello/good night/rise and shine/hold on/be good/just live

A certain lean/elegance/the cuff presented just so/the two tone shoes/the hair parted/slicked/tamed with a stocking cap/the effort to live effortlessly/must have been exhausting/in the midst of/dehumanization/daily/the secret lost by generations/untold/they thought/I think we wouldn’t have to live this way

From the day of Kindergarten graduation/until the teacher herself/guarding the spirits of every tender soul/in her care/my main assignment in life/mirror reflecting love and awe/how she always knew/the delight of our hearts/never had her spirit crushed/and can deal with the toughest youth/looking for and finding the good/the great/the joy/she gives them roses/and calls the roll

Really good old fashioned oatmeal/that didn’t spill over/or burn/with a crust/you have to peel off the pan/nostalgia for Childhood/they rose early to prepare/a good morning for us/and now my good mourning/transforms the plain sweet oatmeal/adorned with how I have learned to care for myself/I do believe/they do approve

It won’t be long now/I have to fight depression as the days descend/they do you know/just as they did then/fierce summer heat abated/became the harbingers of that perfect blue sky/soon to be crisp almost autumn day/I wonder that we found our way forward/that I stood in pulpits in those days/when all the people/found comfort/it seems we are inured to the unthinkable/perhaps it began that/beautiful broken day