Poetry
Image from Adobe
Language of DNA
DNA remembers...the passage ancestors transferred, morsels of inheritance
safely kept in tiny packets memories within cells
red headed, blonde, brunette ebony haired mothers
their fancy piano fingers generational threads
woven in and out of my being like the fiddler’s elbow
from which parts of one may have sprung path from your ancestors to you.
traits and characteristics passed through chromosomes
form flesh shape eyes
legacies endowed from someone far away
in the course of place and time eyes pigments, an offering
benefaction from ancestors who strove to survive
in harsh sun or dark times
freckled skin bequeathed
hands handed down to work, play and continue a line
languages lost
from the longest threads on a chart telling us who we are from those who came before.
syllables heard in utero left on a grandmother’s tongue
word kisses carried in ears...in flesh...in bones
muscled into the mouth but not on the tongue
generations of progeny seeds of a tribe
cultivated through time strengthened through survival
weakened without connection to the old ways forgetting we are made of universal dust – organic matter
like the rest of the planet, unique in the creation of DNA and time loves and luck formed into lives
left fragmented inside every cell of our being.
Pierced Ears
earrings
Eygyptian-esque
long tear drops
black and speckled
covered in crushed diamonds
fingernails of glass peer like eyes
reflecting light and timelessly “fashion”
cleopatra-inspired touch of elegance
legacy evidence of a woman with vivacity
the fifties, the sixties: decades of time to be fancy
a contrast to the thrifted hippy fingering her things
Hippy’s mother once twisted earring-backs from crusted lobes
a chest-seated grandmother free to get back to supper
while child earholes began to grow over and fashion taste refined
she grew into admiration and wistful imaginings of earringed woman
loved and wearing this paired jewelry in its glory
heavy metal pulling at lobes: the price of fashion
dangling above fur collars and silken scarves
amidst clouds of perfume and smoke
clashing dishes and dinner conversation
clever stories and crooked jokes
side to side a smile rests
between these drips of fashion
one can only imagine
the next wearer
will be so
fortunate.
Breathwork with an Evergreen
she is a mother tree
split into
two trunks from her roots
raw exposed tree tentacles
branching through pine-covered ground
reaching out for the others
energy radiating to sustain life
sap streams dripped from her limbs
her whole being
spiky bits trimmed
they were dead and no longer served her
gone so as not to harm others
energy reverted to more important living parts
she and I
we breathe together
carbon dioxide and oxygen
each exhaling from the source
her mouthless mouth seeking my lips
the best parts of her
remain alive
and seek the sunshine.