Overcoming peril, a nightmare

We cuddled in bed with the 

koala and mama lion,

hugging and rubbing and

trying to comfort both.

Hope foolishly

overcame peril.

Then without warning or cause

the lioness opened her jaws,

and teeth slowly grasped the little bear by 

the back of the neck.

He knew what was happening, 

the look of calm terror 

and wonder in his eyes

looking at me, directly, 

for help

or reassurance.

Her grip tightened, cutting off his air.

The skin ripped, flesh tearing through hair.

But afraid to anger the hungry beast,

I lowered my eyes and just hoped it was quick.

All I could do

was grab a towel and sop

to try to keep

the blood

from seeping

into the mattress beneath.

Congruent triangle

Have you ever been in love,

even if you weren't in love.

As in, you're in love with me

and I'm in love with you,

who's in love with her?

With integrity,

this is the geometry lesson

I loath most.

I mean, is it equilateral

or isosceles or scalene

or even, oddly, Escher?

Have you ever needed help,

as easily as the rain starts,

and no one could give you that help,

as easily as the rain stops.

parallel planes =

more mathematical laws hated,

fore they will never intersect.

You're an obtuse angle

who somehow can finagle,

with some emotion bygone,

the lines into an octagon.

Eight sides almost a circle -

tis life,

tis love,

in this oh so congruent song.

The clouds above are weak

the clouds above are weak

too thin to wring out a shower

thick enough to block the moon.

too cheap to rain,

they're too stubborn to move.

Puffs in the sky -

a shadow on my day.

you could open up and share

but instead linger

threatening love and thunder.

like gospel without harmony,

you just hover.

I'm having a moment, forgive me (and no offense to my friends with children)

I just read a sweet little post about a young couple learning that they are (I mean, she is) pregnant.  She describes in vague detail how they bought the drug store pregnancy tests and how they determined that the highway rest stop was not the best place to take them.  The blog had dozens of congratulatory comments – pages and pages of comments actually, which I declined to read in full.

Last week, a friend and colleague also announced that his wife is pregnant.  I wrote an email to congratulate him.  When he responded, “It’s a miracle,” my immediate response was “no it’s not.”  Except, I didn’t actually respond, not out loud and not in writing. Just in my head.  I didn’t want to come across as being a bitter old hag.  It’s just that

Obviously I take getting pregnant for granted.  I’ve known far more people who got pregnant by mistake, unintentionally, than people who weren’t able to get pregnant when they tried.  I don’t think it’s a miracle – I think it’s the organic and scientific result of an instinctual human act.  You don’t need the blessing of some made-up figure in the sky to make it happen.  I bet many atheists have conceived babies, wanted or unwanted, for better or for worse.

I clicked on the twitter page of the author of the blog above and her feed was full of “thank you!s” and “we’re so excited!”  I believe them, and am happy for them – but feel like this can be a little bit of an overreaction.  The decision to have a child (or not) is a very personal one, as is the process.  If I’m bitter over this issue, watching folks hatch little ones left and right around me, then it was a premature bitterness.  I knew early – age 5 – that this was no baby-bearing-body.  Maybe, actually, I’m just bitter that there hasn’t been an outpouring of felicitations over my decision to control the world’s population.  “Hey, everyone! I’m NOT having a baby!  I’m making a smart and responsible decision!”  Really, don’t we think there are enough people on the globe already?  And in some ways I think

There is something egotistical and narcissistic to have the desire to reproduce oneself.  Only on my very best days do I think that’s a reasonable thought, and even then, I haven’t ever taken it seriously.  

Roughed-up lips

Have you ever felt like the spoon

that has been mangled 

in the garbage disposal

but not yet discarded 

as it should have been,

lest it rough-up the lips 

of the 

innocent ingestor 

of otherwise-creamy cherry Greek yogurt?

Glimpses - NYC to Virginiaville

Thanks

Thanks for not slipping by last night

Me, standing here in my black mental state

peeping through at

the dark space

behind

your mind’s eye

Longing for you there in your black mental state.

But the bridge between is broken-

full

of

potholes.

Here

on my side, the engine revs. There

On your side, you wisely

shift down

and look

for another root.