Sometimes I Do

Pandemics

Are for poets

Am I a poet?

I’d sure like to be

Where does one sign up

Mostly any magic I make 

Feels like disease

Blood 

That must be let

I wonder

If the bombs are far off

I wonder if I can protect them

I submit myself to being small

I miss my Mom

Her scent 

I can barely recall

Estee Lauder “Happy”

Mixed with

Whatever it was

That chased away my nightmares

Her raucous laughter

The comfort 

Of her existence

I miss

Birmingham 

My grandmothers

Who wouldn’t have been caught dead

Without a generator 

A wood burning stove

Freezer full

Of nuclear survival

Shelves of jams and pickles and tomato sauce

I remembered them today

As I rinsed a piece of tin foil

To reuse 

Planned in my brain

For the worst case scenario

Meals for the apocalypse 

Talked myself back down

Still 

In the midst of it all

I have inexplicable peace

It runs in my veins 

Warm

Like wine

Sleep seems to elude me

As now 

Seems to be the time

To stay awake

My Retta Jewel

My Birdie and Buster

My Love

Present me daily

With reasons 

Smiles

This and not that Mommy

Just put your hand

On my shoulder

Birdie especially 

Being the oldest

And clairvoyant AF

Seems to know

She fashioned a pretty flower

Out of her craft sticks

Told us it was called 

Corona Virus

It made me want to vomit 

And also smile

That she should know it

Best it

Make it

A flower

Something beautiful

The veritable

Near everlasting circle

Of Life and Death

There will never be another time

Before this

Just like the towers

What if there’s a back

To the wardrobe

Just the thud of wood

Mothballs

No magical land

No light post

To show us Aslan

But Narnia

Must be

When my baby smiles

I see it

Providence

Intelligent design

A plan that is greater

Than my shelf of beans

I don’t have to be important

Just tend my garden

As it were

Please God

Let me be

The smallest cog

As the time to be caught naked

Under a thundering Universe 

Approaches 

The simple

Seems beautiful

Beyond bounty

And measure

I search for his shoulder

Past 

Where the baby is sleeping

Her tiny breath

Is all my world

And I’m here

We are here

This is the time

For whatever it is you’ve been hiding

This is the time

To birth

What you’ve been crossing your legs

Against

This is the time

For gardens

Peace 

Amongst perishing

It’s Judgment and justice

Mercy and mourning

A new Heaven 

A new Earth

Behold

The old things have passed away

The never before

Is on it’s way

Like it or not

All of us

Are becoming new