Sunday, June 30, 2013

A poem a day for 2013 - day 180 - Woman's Day



Because sometimes a woman needs to be alone with her thoughts
She needs to separate real life from bullshit like the laundry
Delicates to the left
Jeans on the right
She needs to sew buttons and take out hems
She needs to take out hims and hers
The only voice she desires is her own
A woman, this woman, needs time to be in a T-shirt and no panties
Let braless breasts hang loose as flip-flops
Sit under fan and paint lavender flowers on old canvases
There is healing in hands covered in paint
There is forgiveness in flowers
There is God in a clean room
Rest, woman
Add butterflies and lilies and ladybugs
Where is the rainbow
Remember to add a rainbow
The bills will always be there
Like a specter I wear like tattoo
Somebody get this out of my skin
Everybody back away from me and let me 
Put thoughts into baskets
Everything is turning pink
I do not want to answer phone calls
Or the door
Or eat
I want water
A closed door 
A camera
And polish for my feet
Somebody give me Morrison
Give me Walker
Give me Baldwin
Give me Shange
Bring me the big guns to inhale over and over
Tonight will come soon enough
When I have to face the moon
Face the stage to tell stories
And smile pretty
Rub backs
And recall words 
But now is not tonight
Now is now
Now is my time
Now is red and purple and green
Now is yellow and Pandora
Now is Norah Jones and old journals
Now is necessary for tonight to be
Possible

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