Snow

Fluttering pieces of
The sky falling
Past me without
A care
The wind whips
The flicking silk
In a tornado
Above my head
Letting the elements
Carry it wherever
It is led without
Protest it rides
Up the roller coaster
Of winds that soar
Above my head
Up down left
Right upside down

Defying the laws
Of gravity because
The light pieces of
The sky float in
The air without
The worry of
Being tethered to
The ground by
Responsibility and
Expectation

They fly above the
People who drudge
Through the new
Inconvenience to their
Morning commute

They live in the clouds
Flying with the dreams
And the hopes that
Soar there too but
Eventually they tire
And float by
Me tumbling towards
The ground, a catchment
For all the lost dreams
And given up hopes

They accumulate by my
Feet and gather to
Make a white downy
Carpet for me to
Trod on. A carpet
Of broken dreams
And lost hope

Praying Mantis

Did you know that a female
Praying mantis eats the male
Praying mantis right after mating?
She does this to provide for her
Young, the young nymphs that
Will one day grow to be as
Beautiful and strong as their mother
Looking up to her with bulging
Bug eyes the way an infant’s hands
Reach to grasp the finger of her mothers
Staring with amazement at the
Radiant face beaming
Back at them

Until one day when they grow up and
They cannot see her face
Because it is fixed on the ground ahead
Of her staring at carpet rather
Than looking the approaching
monkey suited man in the eye
She glares at the ground in disgust as
She hears the name of a male coworker
Called into the office but when he passes
She plasters a pearly smile on her face
But even a pearl once was contained
Inside a grotesque clam
Never opening its mouth until the
Pristine creation was completed
Until everything was ready and perfect
But nothing will ever be ready and perfect
She watches as the cubicles around her
Empty of her male counterparts and
Fill with capable women
Frowning at the ground too

She finds her daughter crying on the
Floor of her room because she
Cannot solve the math problem
Sitting in front of her
When her mother asks why she says
The math teacher told us boys are
Better at shapes than girls
Is it because boys are better
At thinking of outside of the box
Ways to get to the top even if they
Are not capable of succeeding
Is it because boys find a pastime in
Critiquing and picking apart the
Shape the girls on magazines come in
Gawking at the ellipses that make their
Hips and the 180-degree line of their stomach
They disregard the small unnatural curves
Of the background because their eyes are too
Busy ogling over this perfect
Geometric specimen
She closes her eyes and sends
Her daughter to her father
Because she remembers never
Truly understanding shapes

So why is it that a man can swoon
At the sight of a woman in a magazine and
do all but kiss her feet but when a woman
Wants to succeed she is told to sit down
Stare at her feet or she doesn’t even try
At all
Why can a female praying mantis
Kill her mate for her young but we cannot
Help our daughters understand the world
Because we were told men do it better
I have lost sight of the light my
Mother’s face used to have
But some days when I tilt her head from
Staring at the broken ground
I see a sparkle left in her eyes
The same eyes I saw staring back at
My tiny outstretched hand
And the same eyes I hope my
Daughter will see when she
Looks back at me

Deep End Nancy

Dependency
It sounds like deep end Nancy
We all know a deep end Nancy
She stands by the side of the pool
Every summer day just staring
Into the bottom of the deep end
The 12 feet of darkness that
Could swallow you whole or
maybe just that loose bandage on your knee
You tell Nancy it’s fine just jump
You can swim we’ve all seen it
But she just shakes her head
She sits on the pool deck watching
The other kids jump without fear
And resurface within seconds
Gloating about tapping the bottom
The guaranteed bottom

Nancy can swim in the shallow end
You can see the bottom of the shallow end
You can touch the bottom without
Ever getting your hair wet
Without ever fully dunking your
Head below the surface
So how can you guarantee something
You have never seen
Nancy goes home every day with
Dry hair and soaked feet
She watches her parents
Shoving responsibilities back and forth
Never truly getting on the same page
Years go by and eventually
Nancy’s dad says goodbye
Goodbye without a trace
Apparently, the never ending
Game of responsibility ping pong
Finally caught up with him
He missed his serve…

Nancy still comes to the pool
Every summer day
She sits on the side
And sometimes she wades
In the shallows
One day I thought she was
Going to jump in the deep end
She made sure no one was
Looking then she started running
As fast as she could and then
An inch before the lip of
The pool she stopped
Skidded to a halt
Her face was the color of
A valentine a blinding red
She ran away burrowing herself
Far into a towel to hide
Her tear stained cheeks
The next day I asked her
Why she didn’t jump
She said because I couldn’t
See the bottom
How do I know it is there
If I have never seen it