Mandarin Manx

I see it all the time,
the way of things,
how season follows season,
and flake follows leaf;
but don't ask me what it means--
you'd do as well to ask the apple
on the tray on the table
on the porch up the steps
why the wind blows, or
why Sally is prettier than Jane, or
why cats can't speak Chinese...
it's a mystery to me.

Still and all, I have observed that
when I call you,
you call back,
and that's a righteous joy
beyond explaining.
______ 

linked to Real Toads, because I am GRATEFUL that I have friends who love me.

Sweet Man

He's a sweet man.
Am I allowed to say that?
He looks like
A little bottle of India ink.

It's a perfect day.
The sky is full of puffy clouds like lazy angels,
And I'd love to lay a sweet slow one on one of 'em.
Am I allowed to say that?

He's a sweet man,
Like clear water rushing over open hands.
He makes me feel peaceful, like my shit-crazy girlfriends never do.
Am I allowed to say that?

He knows I'm the kind of woman who burns the breakfast
And runs off with somebody's sister first chance I get;
But he's balm for the wounded spirit,
And I love the way he smiles when I say that.

_____

dedicated to N.

Always there, wearing fur of a bear...

This post is dedicated to my BFF Hedgewitch, who, when she isn't polishing the horns on her Viking helmet, is about the best friend a girl could have.


Even when I bore her to death with my 19th nervous breakdown, she doesn't run me through or tape my mouth shut. Teh coolnezz...she haz it!


^^Keef!

Congratulations

Etiquette note: one congratulates the groom, and wishes the bride good luck. To congratulate the bride implies that she was lucky to snag a man at all, and saying this could be construed as snarky. Miss Fireblossom deplores snarkiness.

Congratulations!

Oh honey, congratulations

On the success of your

Machiavellian machinations.

(I'm so glad

So awfully glad

I didn't say that out loud.)



And really,

I just know you'll both be

So happy,

So happy...

He looks dashing,

And you look smashing,

If just a little

Only a little

Trailer trashy...



And I just want you to know

That I wish you

I wish you both

Would just fall down on the polished floor and choke

Til death do you part.

Thank you for letting me be a part

Of your special day!

Do you know what I wish?

Oh, I wish you would both fall head-first down the stairs,

Down, down, down.

(And thank Goddess I didn't say that

Honey, I would never ever say that

Out loud.)

_________

Crows

I wasn't with who I was supposed to be with.

I wasn't doing what I was supposed to be doing,

Those hated things.



I was with you,

The forbidden friend;

And it is useless to tell a crow to stop flying

In mid-sky.



We had snuck inside somebody's garage,

And you, Your Ladyship, you said,

"Look at all this shit!"

Lamps, hammocks, car parts,

Lawn chairs, steamer trunks,

And our hearts

Beating fast with the happiness of minor crimes.



You, Highness, marveled at a ginormous spider web,

Then did claw hands at me.

"Eet ees flyink spiders!" you said,

And we laughed even as we shushed each other.



I laced my fingers through yours, and for a moment in the dusty wonderful gloom of that place,

We flew together in each other's eyes.

Then, you were shoving a few shiny silver tools into your jeans pockets,

And we were off,

One hour closer to a thrashing,

And to the day when we would make our own rules,

And choose our own company to keep.

________

Recipe

A kitchen is a fine place to hatch a plot.

I will be your confederate--

The most agreeable evil

You ever met.

The sun falls through the curtains

Like fingertips on skin,

As we bring out the magicks--

Sugar,

Flour,

Cinnamon.

We work as if we were zealots

In basements, printing up pamphlets,

For the purblind left, or the palsied right--

Except that we are subversives

Of a different stripe.

We will lull them,

Make them lazy--

Say there's no more,

Make them crazy;

Then, when they are helpless,

We shall withdraw and decide our demands--

They shall be many,

And capricious;

Not from need, these wicked plans, but simply because

We can.

______

Art by Pablo Picasso

Girl

I dreamt that we were in a garden, which was also a playground.

There was a white filigree bench,

And yellow daffodils.

There were lush strips of grass,

And swings and toys

Where your children were playing nearby.

I was watching myself, and you, from a short distance.

I wore a white lace dress

And was younger and prettier than I really am.

You wore brown cords and a beige henley

And your hair was long and loose.

You said, "you're having a girl," and then I realized why my dress flowed the way it did.

I knew you were right, that this was one of those little intuitions that land in your hand like gifts.

I was smiling, glad for your being there,

As I felt something circle within me

Like a flock of birds,

Spiralling up through my heart, through me,

Like a blessing, like happiness,

Like that welcome visitor

Called Joy.

________