In these works, I depict art and life as parallel, a mirror to each other’s reflection.
All in Issue 2
In the middle of June, running
my fingers through the tangled vines
of the potted Calibrochoa
their sightings caused
more of a ruckus than awe.
Constrained Crane
I am often drawn to the discarded and forgotten, perhaps because of the untold stories those items represent.
If there are wings, let them be strong, dark-burnished as oxidized metal
that was pulled from earth, hardened with fire, spread to the air.
There is a new kind of flora
One less malleable
Though still most likely to endure
How many men does it take to shoulder the casket of an elephant? How many teak plants needed to make an elephantine coffin?
Who wouldn’t be a polar bear in the tropics?
A solitary last emperor, an Arctic ambassador
paddling a marionette dance in his own lagoon
With my own jaws,
I chewed off my wings.
They nourished me till
my first eggs were laid.
Mālama
A Pu'olo is a gift or offering. A sacred Hawaiian precept goes "Anywhere you go, take an offering with you".
this is how they begin, until the steadily humming morning peeks out from over the horizon to make everything a part of its yellow glow.
After the egg was laid you left
God protects it
After time shifts by
God protects it
She is carefully crafted grace,
long legs ready to lope in retreat
when a misstep or hot breath
makes her ears twitch.
We enter the world wailing, fighting for breath.
First breath assaults the skin, offends the body.
Insulted, we weep, unsure we want to be here.