If I had all the privileges of this age
the gifted, the bought, the labored-for, the born-into ones
I would round them up and give them to you
But I do not have the many privileges of these days
I do have a heart that aches to give you all
(fully aware a self-created chance exceeds a gifted one).
I offer you my heart, repeatedly, generously
And this,
is the privilege of parenting,
in part.
.
.
- mailed to Rhode Island this week -
- artwork by Gary Hume -
If you give a mouse a cookie...
If you give the Donald a stage
He will profess and confess anything
to be selected, to be elected.
We know there will be deception
that big stage requires it, without exception.
When you win with half the votes,
hope you desire gaining the hopes of the losing half too.
When you give a mouse a cookie...
When you make the Donald leader
Might the hate spewed from his mouth
be overwhelmed, even overturned
by the truth the beauty the emotional weight
most people on this earth possess and mandate.
Might short term gain not be the desire
but long term perspective be required.
If you give a mouse a cookie...
let us all write this story.
Unflinching, Unblinking,
Fiercely standing-up for our neighbors.
The story we write with our hearts
turns-out is the story that keeps us together, not apart.
So if you might trust a mouse with a child
might you trust the Donald to care for your child...
.
.
- inspiration from children's book:
"If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura Numeroff
- mailed to Massachusetts this week -
- artwork by Cecily Brown - Untitled (Vanity) - 2005
The old becomes new
yet we barely know what to do.
We believe new is truly new
but looking back we know it's not true.
Let the old become new
for when you do
(assuming you really really want to),
that old might just inform that new new.
Rings-true for people, places and things
and most likely for you too.
.
.
- mailed to Connecticut this week -
- artwork by Ryan Perez -
I.
Love buys toilet paper
for the one you love.
II.
Love loves love
love loves to love
love loves to love around love
love loves when love is close
love challenges love when far
Far-away love may intrude even while love is close
(It is the taking-for-granted of love,
the dismissal, the loss-of-manners from loves' comfort)
even close love can deteriorate under our nose
Be vigilant on love
look-at-it
examine love
the scrutiny may make love --
make love love more
.
.
- mailed to New Jersey this week -
- artwork by GCC -
A blurry line flails across
a bumpy page ignoring
the landscape of words
and sentences and
careless young thoughts.
Those thoughts, largely
ideas seeking an audience,
are incessant
in their chatter,
stature and poise.
Behind a blurry line,
before it penetrates paper,
a pause occurs when
line tightens focus and
paper prepares to push.
Pushes that youthful line
into becoming a particular
word which precisely connects
idea with emotion (serving-up a
raspberry ring to help us see).
- mailed to New York this week -
artwork by Ernst Haas
Tap a shoe
Twist the pelvis
blink 7 blinks
yell-out loud
clap your clap
kick the calf
show some teeth
stand up now
It's a pain
trying to refrain
from joy
or some pain
blow out metal emotion
be quick to heal
look at your feet
they probably still feel
- mailed to Delaware this week -
artwork by Pablo Picasso
I.
Tumultuous air
carries a paisley of prickled nuggets
containing turbulent emotion.
Their roar delights
in seeking vulnerable ears
hoping for a respite.
Pray they pass;
Or expect to endure a waltz
destined to extract tension and tears.
II.
Tension and tears
blow out
from the head
tightly bound as string
round a spinning top,
gaining momentum dramatically.
Tension and tears escape,
helping the head,
to not bake.
- mailed to Pennsylvania this week -
artwork by Philip Guston
Addressing a dress can cause a pause
at any given address.
Understand that when a dress is addressed
caution and delicacy and intent
are paramount.
When desire to undress a dress
is disguised as a compliment
beware, be aware, the best that may come
is subtle or coquettish aggression --
though wrath of all sorts
will more likely need to be addressed
from a dress.
So all must learn to dance with a dress,
meaning both lead and follow
simultaneously.
Listen and groove,
a light step and smile helps too.
Giving a hint, might get a wink
while simply respecting soars you
to heavenly heights --
perhaps to an address unknown.
Yes, addressing a dress, with honor,
may eventually change your address
to a place you can call home.
- mailed to Maryland this week -
artwork by Man Ray
Floating far and long
toward a place ostensibly unknown
It's a hike as perilous as dry eggs from mother
bordering a road familiar to few others
A life of treasure sans lies to find
in this long and long and far far climb
Thorns keep finding toe and heel
sticking around shamelessly irritating thoroughly
If only that place others never see
would be believable, even retrievable, to those other than me
- mailed to Florida this week -
Artwork by Siddharth Parasnis
unfold two arms and contempt is demolished
enfold those same arms to watch joy trickle in
a people will sometimes unfold a desperate history
families will recover -- enfold the pain together, finally
unfold a religious deity while searching for a truth
watch a community enfold, encouraging questions, humanely
today unfolds -- many options abound, so many seem needless
consider laughing aloud, enfolding those with your sound
a surprise may unfold with a well positioned laugh
depleting tension, enfolding peace nudging toward a saner hour
.
.
- poem went to Georgia this week -
- artwork by Amilcar de Castro
Thank you Art
for being a blunt chameleon
available for needy humans to visit.
You settle, sustain,
even change the brain, the soul.
You give, what body and mind unknowingly need.
Each gazer sees
different things in you,
yet you remain unchanged, same.
Much-obliged, Art, for adapting - hence adopting us.
You are a gracious creation
for the sake of humans alone.
- mailed to South Carolina this week -
artwork by Gary Hume - "Yellow Hair"
Falling, like wheels careening down an incline
Heat, blustering closer like the fire at kid camp
Groceries, arriving as dreams do while slumbering
Age, surprises gradually like fingernails growing
If there is no possibility, no noticing of everything
Then allow a break from all situations, a stop
Take the all-consuming muscle for a walk, over the cliff
So to see the air pulse in-and-out of a mouth, distinguished-ly
- mailed to North Carolina this week -
artwork by Sol LeWitt
What if a shove were gentle,
helpful, with kindness, maybe sentimental?
That shove could come from her or him.
It could arrive on the arm, without harm, on a whim.
But a shove can shock. Shoves shock.
Yes, a shove is a shock.
Shoves can shock a life into action
or create a whole lot of dissatisfaction.
What if a shove that shocks intends to _______,
(you fill in the blank - an unspeakable)?
A shove that shocks with intent,
definitely arrives with major discontent.
But the shock of a shove with intent
potentially might represent
a mistake of the gravest kind,
with a possibility to forgive, and leave it behind.
- mailed to Virginia this week -
artwork by Alexander Calder