Mexican Jumping Beans

I was recently given five real Mexican Jumping Beans straight from the Mexican Jumping Bean fields in Texas.  They came with a sheet detailing their history, their care and handling, and a game board, should I want to encourage their competitive side.

I haven’t had Mexican Jumping Beans as pets since my childhood, and I was newly enchanted by their indomitable spirit, despite the fact that they are held captive in a one-

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We Who Sleep Alone

At some time late evening
wrestle out of our bras
and sleep in the shirts
we have been wearing.

We fall asleep reading

The Second Death of Lazarus

It was not his doing
this coming back from the dead
yet everyone treated him
as if he had a terrible disease,
something he brought back from that black place
the buzzing emptiness where he lay.
It was his sisters who begged the Christ

It Is Something Like a Love Story

After years of searching and dreaming,
This is not what I expected love to feel like—
a mixture of comfort and gratitude
smaller than I thought it would be
quieter.

Haircut Before the Class Reunion

It’s been 50 years, and I am getting fixed up.
I know I didn’t grow old beautifully
like those cheerleaders with the “bone structure”
but I am doing what I can to at least look like
I am no stranger to hygiene
or the niceties of a good haircut and a manicure.
(I do the hands myself; they are elegant.)

Vertigo

A flake of  crystal loosens and drops
into  fluid in the ear
and you get the truest sense
of how perceived reality can be a lie.

With a jerk, the world turns on its side

Verbiage

I am working very hard at my writing.
my verbs are sweating and begging for mercy.
My adjectives are colorful but exhausted
Every once in a while an adverb
will appear quickly, panting hard,
and then ruefully disappear .

Scar

On my stomach
Six inches down the middle
Is a scar
Like a parted curtain
a rope
a stony path

Yellow is the Cure for Winter

I bought a yellow bowl
and when the uncommon
sun spills through
the kitchen window
it fills the bowl with joy.

What I Believe

What I believe:

I believe that China is controlling my thoughts and I can’t understand what  they are saying to me in Chinese, so I mostly ignore them.

I believe that if hamburgers could fly to my house I would eat a lot more of them.