screaming at houseplants

GROW!!!

WHY CAN’T YOU GROW!?!?

WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF?!?!

GROW!!!

i will remove you
from these rooms

soil
sun
rain
might change…

nothing

changing externals
changes nothing

pretend
you are fake plastic
but know
in no time
no nourishment
wilts leaves
browns green
kills
life

this death will
prove you non-plastic
and yet
inorganic

not the tree
you can be

standing sure
on constantly clinging
always drinking and
forever deepening
root

broad spread branches
bending to the tug of
much fruit

you are less
than alive
because you refuse to GROW!!!

WHY CAN’T YOU GROW!?!?

WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF?!?!

GROW!

the rainbow warrior

out of the darkness
of dependence
'neath tinted windows
over black paint

red
yellow
orange
white
magenta
purple
blue

stripes
run up
down
curved and
straight

shouting
"1988!"

i was in first grade
the first day
GMC
rolled the Rainbow Warrior
onto streets

today,
i'm in eleventh

and Jimmy
is more than SUV
He
is my identity
in him
i am free

in control

i decide where i go
when i go
to what station
i tune MY radio

and i know
he can get me there

six cylinders
jumping
gears spin wheels
tires squeal
under folded down
back seats
making space to load
equipment
so i can play shows
and mow lawns i'm paid to mow

he takes care of me
so i take care of Jim

oiling
gassing
adorning
rearview mirror
with rubber chicken

cops will stop us
'cause
different is suspicious

i will wreck him
because i
drive in daydreams

mom and dad
will try to convince me
to paint Jim black
and lose the lines

but i will fight for my
warrior's stripes
and he will ride again
in full glory

in college
his hood will fly high
on highway

someday closer
to two-hundred thousand miles
i will sell him
for a less interesting
Chevy Blazer

Jim will work for the
U.S. Postal Service

eventually
he will be
a first car
again

making a lucky
young lady
unique

a toast

to biggest mistakes

to hardest things faced

stare them down
in memory
unflinchingly
without
looking
away

revisit
the haunted place
watch time
reshape
a burning house of pain

momentarily
feel its' heat and
periodically return to see
hellfire
reduced to
smoldering rubble and
a few
flickering
fading
flames

it may
one day
burn out
but won't ever burn
down

a memorial remains
in cold black ruins
scarring soul's landscape like
healed wounds
on veteran arms
telling tales
of Strength born weak
and Wisdom conceived
in mistake

they grow up
and old
together

they grow
through flames that
flicker and fade
until Strength
and companion
break

break bread
in celebration
raise glasses in toast,
and slowly

drink