A sack of lemons sits on the kitchen counter Alone - a new home again The seedless kind- it matters Bright sunshine yellow Peeking through cross hatched white fabric bag Ever notice the pores on citron like natural, oily face skin on a summer afternoon- I wish you cared enough to run it under tepid water every so often With some sudsy foaming Whatchamickcallit Instead of sleeping in it Not a surprise that you did not care I’ve accepted that - At some point I did touch it, call it curiosity How it resembled grandfather’s skin - frigid man with a slicing tongue And so were you Memory pulls The you in all white, paper hood, kneeling, howling, snot running down your face, tears pouring from everywhere. Then nothing- a clip of 10 seconds at his wake I questioned it, can you blame me? Jaded at 12 It was after all hardened baby skin I can still feel the slap of bamboo raining down across my body - breaking the supple in half Nothing to be afraid of N o w Although remnants like most lovingly passed down things… Leave telltale scars Lemons & lemonade - what a pair like stinkin’ perfume, sugar sweet It should be Pucker sour with a hint of sugar cube Because That was life’s truth Extra sunshine meant delusion Silence meant coiled anxiety Explosion - how golden toned skin turned into shades of purple ash Or relaxed dead weight Refusing to let go Even as I cried for you Year 6 and 9 months of life Inheritance Of seedless lemons - abomination made Did you know, I wrote about you About us As dolphins, despite it all, m i s s i n g m o m They gave me a gold star, tacked it on some bulletin board My complex love, A masterpiece. Insignificant You didn’t save it lemons make lemonade A paradox... And I never made it to Lemon Ade.
Layered Fragments, Becoming Whole 