Poem: Disturbed Snow

Another Monday morning
Coffee is on and poured
Hot and black
A contrast to the cold and white
Falling softly in sheets

Poem: Undefined

The sound of the evening
Of a beach with her standing there
Moon behind her hanging
Like a halo around her hair
Done like she always did it
In that favorite shirt of mine
Holding her in all the right places

Poem: UnCivil War

Lips draw tight
In battle lines
Stretching across
Dinner tables
Where brother
Versus brother
Stares daggers

Poem: Sequoia Snow

Stark grey skies
Shed frozen tears
Into the silence
Between red trunks
And green pine needles
Broken only by the song
Of the sparrow and thrush

Poem: Uprising

Skin
Has always been judge and jury
And executor

Judged as subhuman
Because of skin
Stock animals to be sold
Traded, worked until broken
Until we rose up

Poem: Ghazal Mask

The things we show in the masks we wear
The things we hide in the masks we wear

Tiny invisible killers fill the air
Leading to choices about the masks we wear

Poem: Emerald City

I came from a place of deciduous trees
And 100% humidity
When I landed at SeaTac in June
It was too cold too cold for my short sleeves
Even though the sun shone high
In blue skies over Mount Rainer

Poem: The Old Neighborhood

Though no one lives there now
I remember the old neighborhood
Where I used to play with all my friends
In a kingdom of make-believe

Poem: Reconstruction

A hollow outline where you used to be
Stands guard in the present
As a window to the past
Of what you may have looked like
When your gray walls still bore chisel marks

Poem: Impeachment Day

Standing before the crowds
Arms raised in a sign of victory
Cheers rise from their hoarse throats
Desert dry from adoration
Or anger or anxiety
Self-loathing and embarrassment

For a moment they are free