grumble mug

grumbling into my mug of
muddy decaffeinated tea

[it's been enhanced by sugars
and fats from various sources]

grumbling to myself because
no one else is here

and no one else would care
[probably] or at least

not enough to respond
with anything helpful

so grumble away, me.
grumble all day as long

as the work gets done.

personal nimbus

you oppressive cloud
rung out over me

casting across all my paths,
if i ignore you

will you get worse
or go away?

the muscle fibers caught up

reaching out to wrap
an arm around another

lips pulled back in a smile
or turned down in a pout

rushing from one gate
to another to catch a flight

or pulling himself up
out of a chair after a nap

the stretch of muscle
is visible under skin

and we're all caught up
in the motions of the flexing

and relaxing

the green river girl

there's a girl, the green river girl.
i invented her.

at first, she was just a pleasantry
an imaginary friend

to the girl inside me named something
who i invented so she could write poems,

but then the green river girl grew up
fed off the grief and fear of losing my pa.

she siphoned my turmoil, my sadness,
and spread it out across the valleys

of the Pacific Northwest of America.
she planted seeds all around this place

where i trek once a year
knowing I'd keep coming back

and eventually see the blossoms
of what she planted for me here.

today we - me, something, and the green river girl -
took the familiar trail down to the bottom

of the falls we stare at for long periods of time
to remember and honor all our past feelings

and today i recognized the fruits and flowers
that were planted a decade ago

by the green river girl, weighed down as she is,
by rocks and sadness, and stuck here forever

in these trees and this water, green and strong.

my phone has a microphone, i dropped my phone, i dropped a mic, did i drop the mic?

i did.
didn't i?
yeah, i did.

driving rain

car parts break or fault
houses made of wood will leak

and we keep trekking forward
through the driving rain

reattached

stitched back together
with wax covered thread

by a weak needle
and shaking fingers

but with the kind of care
that makes up

for lack of knowledge
or practice

and stays reattached
even in rough weather

wide screen

i have a wide screen
computer monitor at work

and the bottom of the screen
(it's 25" (i measured it))

is covered edge to edge
with little post it notes

(the 2" square ones
(i measured those too))

some are stuck three long
one on top of another

on top of another.
they are reminders

of what must be done.
a colorful to-do list

across the bottom
of my wide screen monitor.

air

i did something to water
something that upset it

so all the liquids i interacted with
did their best to drip

splash

spill

overflow

spray

so much so that i felt
much like a soggy squirrel

flapping my tail
most of the day

water was not my element
but then i'm air anyway

at least that's what Ajia thinks
she told me when i complained

about my water problem
while water splashed up

from the basin of the sink
and soaked into the apron i'd put on

for protection

either way.

stand up. stop. if you have toes, can you feel them? stand still. wiggle them. how many do you have? if a whale and a deer are related by a type of hip bone, do you buy the purple flowers or the yellow ones to make the wet deer happy? either way, they were both picked. wiggle your toes again. how many do you have? i have ten. i have had ten for quite a while now. a while, a long time, a life time, all relative to the short line at the locally owned coffee place that only has five kinds of milk.

cherry blossom bandit

no one suspected
the big grey goose

with the bright orange beak
was capable

of such heinous
criminality

alas, he had a tendency
to rob local shops

of their cherry blossom
flavored baked goods

during the busy festival
in spring

puddle skipper

a fish out of water
would die

i'm much more like
a squirrel in a deep puddle

the meaning of tired

the word tired
describes how i feel
most of the time

tired is a little word
but this little word
has many meanings

such as i stayed out
too late last night
and regret it a little now

or i do the same things
over and over and over
and see no end in sight

sometimes it means
do i have to do this again
didn't i do this yesterday?

it can mean chocolate
where is the chocolate
i am going to need chocolate

or it can mean i ate
too much chocolate
even though that seems impossible

or wondering why the heck
recreational fishing
seems like a relaxing idea

when actually it's really
mean to trick a fish
and totally ruin its day

tired can also mean
i feel like i've seen
this show before

it must be a repeat
or i've been watching
too much reality tv

it can mean wearing
the same shoes
for six months

tired can mean
the sun is warm
through the window

so today i am staying home
with the cats and eating
more chocolate

lookbook emotions

today i am wearing
motivated

to match my new
confident

yesterday i wore
confused

with a bright and beautiful
frustrated

two weeks ago
i sported this really cute
angry

later today i will put on
my best
tired

when the weather warms up
i'll be riding around in
my favorite pair of
distracted

and when fall hits
we'll all wrap ourselves up
in the warmest
sad

until the holidays
happen upon us
and we put on our
holly
jolly
depressed

but disguise it with
chocolate and marshmallow themed
happy

pocket full of lumens

what kind of world
where he can

walk around all day

with a pocket full of lumens

more than 10 million pixels

if we count the sub ones

10 million of anything

is reason enough

for a purse

three truths