“Frame by Frame”

prompt: "snapshot"




They make due
With a condensed
Version of
Childhood, seeing the

Highlights, the
Calculated shots, with
Santa Claus and birthday
Cakes, and the faces
Made at the first taste of

Cereal. Never the
Unexceptional,
Everyday things, the
Bottles, the bath times.

They watch their child’s
Children grow up with each
Flash of the
Camera and with every
Envelope of
Photos that makes its
Way across the miles;

Remembering how it was to
Watch a child
Blossom in real
Time and then
Fill in the blanks.

"Gemini"

prompt: "profile"




She says she a Gemini,
Like that sums her up.
As if she were inter-
Changeable with the
Thousands of others
Born under that
Sign. She might have
Said: she’s a natural

Communicator, who loves to
Learn, or intelligent and
Witty, restless and
Occasionally fickle,
Charming, adaptable,
Lighthearted, flirtatious,
Who’s favorite colors are
Colors of the air, sky blue and
Yellow, carefree and interested in

Everything; A feminine
Hermes, quick-witted and
Inventive, but bored easily.
No, she’s just a Gemini.

"Under Cover"

prompt : "ain't none of your business"

Trade-size paperbacks,

Broken spine
Nestled into a blue leather
Jacket,

Hiding the
Bareness of the
Cover and the

Passion
Trickling from the
Pages

“Childhood Friends, Grown Up”

prompt: "old relationship"


Nine years to her eight, a
Block away in a house that
Always smelled of black cherry
Kool-aid, and stay-at-home mom,

I saw her washing a dusty
Volkswagon with paper towels,
Trying to convince her dad
It was clean enough to go
Get pizza. A little girl

Who couldn’t pretend and
Another who ignored reality,
Filling in the days with bike
Rides and board games. Twenty

Years later, we never fail to
Send a birthday card, even though
When we run into each other at the
Grocery store, neither knows what to say.

"McKey"

prompt: "old relationship"


Homeless, she kept a small
Apartment downtown, her hair wild,
Eyes intelligent. We’d
Talk in the back room of the
Public library where she’d
Hand out Claddagh pins and sixty
Year old memories in the reference
Section. She was going to
Write a book; I wonder if she ever did.

e.e. & me...

prompt: "form/anti-form"

punct.u.a.tion is
language,
all its own; words

form-
lessly formed
dripp-ing,

drop on the
page-- Images… Imagines… Imaginations
laced with

Sarcasm

and

Rhythmy
Rhymes and often-sometimes-maybe emjamb-

ment.

"Maybe You’ll Follow"

prompt: "maybe ___"



I leave a trail of
Bobby pins
Wherever I go,

Plucking them
Out when I turn a
Corner,
Scattering them at
Intersections. Hair

Tumbling down, bit by
Bit, hoping you can
See my path in the
Moonlight.

“Missing Slivers”

prompt: "never again"


Suspicion heralds late
Arrivals, wrong
Numbers
Stored in the
Back of the mind,

Just in case.

Just friends
Reconsidered, excuses
Scrutinized.

Trust

Pieced back
Together will
Never be whole
Again,

No
Matter how
Long the glue
Dries.

“12:00, Flashing”

prompt: "time of day"

Blinking green numbers
Announce to all the
Coffee maker is back on
Line and the
Microwave is good to go,
But it seems as though I’ve

Misplaced the morning or
Maybe the sun is
Shining at midnight.
Or is 12:00 the

Alpha and omega of the
Clock world, a
Place to retreat and
Regroup when you’ve lost
Power and just aren’t
Sure of where you’re
Supposed to be?

“Beer Thirty”

prompt: "time of day"
Steeled toed boots
Kicked off by the door
Pepper the
Floor with flakes of
Mud. Worn jeans,

Once-white socks, a
Flannel shirt with loose
Buttons leave a
Trail like

Breadcrumbs to the
Chair where a callused
Hand pulls the
Tab and marks the
End of the work day.