|
July 25, 1995
To mayelle not yet 4 ½
mayelle
the swing is there still
immobilized
by oppressive stillness
in
scorching july heat in boston
you
were the open sky
the
eyes
the
ocean
& the
big tree is still there fully covered
from
this year’s new leaves
the swing is there alone
sky/ocean
holding
the wind
sun/sky
losing
the wind
entering
gentle fingers
through
closed links in the chain
the grass is back whispering in it’s growth
to your running image in the park
chasing the birds migrating in fear
that the returning winter might freeze their wings
you
are a still moment
in
the underexposed black & white film
where
for the lack of contrast
nothing
is visible
except
the sharp white edges
on
the contact print
your hair
grows in deep ocean
in coral reefs that release blood droplets
floating above the slimy surface
I close my eyes
to
hold the you in the retina
inside
the damaged cornea
the
virus cut in fragmented steel particles
inside
the mind’s camera
that
holds the underdeveloped frames
from
the day I saw you
even an old man
has a right to love
before the counterfeited credits
roll over the screen in the last show
before the shattered lens inside the brain
melts in perennial winter
the
poem in the swing still
immobilized
by oppressive stillness
sky/ocean
holding
the wind
sun/sky
losing
the wind
I close my eyes again
mayelle
this time
your hand is strong
breaking the links
the swing
thrusting the woman in you
into the sun
sky/ocean
holding
the wind
sun/sky
losing
the wind
July 28, 1995
9:30 pm
to maressia on the eve
of the 2nd birthday
maressia
the moon saw you
when earth's shadow was cast upon you
in the total lunar eclipse
the sky swallowed street tar
from city night
when you were light inside your mother's womb
when roots howled under chemical earth
reaching for soil
beyond the bowel of the globe
maressia
the moon saw you
between the sun
obscuring earth
in the total solar eclipse
when the cosmonaut
saw the sun's corona escaping
the incandescent disk
embedded in deep cosmic ink
& on his return said
the infinite space inside the sky
is black
& it will never be possible
to see the universe in the same way
from earth
& the cosmonaut saw you
fertilizing the belly
inside the moon
maressia
I saw you the day after tomorrow
one day old
inside my aging trembling hands breathing
a life
howling to become woman
inside the electrically charged storm
in the white hospital cell
in boston
that could not suppress the new born scream
maressia
it was all in the moon
the day of the eclipse
when shielding the damaged cornea
I saw your birth in the eclipse's blackness on
earth
from that day on maressia
I say your name
for the world to know
January 22, 1996
To Maressia
2-1/2 years old
loving you maressia
is to know space immeasurable
filled in undiscovered matter
gravitating invisibly
in your presence
it is to know the roots
left in the soil
after they strip the forest
to genocide the flora
yet to know you
is not to know the language
in your first cry
is not to see the oxygen
your lungs crave to fill with life
loving you maressia
is to question meaning on why
the lightning ignites a seed
& life is born
it is to know the word love
should never be spoken
unless it is
what in your essence is
January 31, 1996
4:50 a.m.
to Maressia
it was the night the dragonfly
mid air suspended
woke up the dormant dandelion flower
with vibrating wings
your
mother in hard labor
on
the city hospital table
pushing
to release you
why was it so difficult
to let you go through the uterus canal
why did your birth
caused so much pain
NO
it
was not the night
the
38
shot
dead your mother’s homey
across
the street
NO
it
was not the night
she
was handcuffed in the square
& taken
to prison
NO
it
was not the many nights
she
said
I
want to get fucked up
get
high forever
it
was just another night
full
of pain
|
