Trauma

What is this holy temple?   A place where we learn to feel better About feeling bad about ourselves Because the music is loud enough To drown out the cries of the wounded Who live in our chests And the sermon delivered With shouts and tears And sometimes dripping with sweat Also hints that we are not alone And we are all bleeding out Into the offering basket together   What is this holy temple?...

Baptism 1: 1975 Born of Machine At the gates of the Magic Kingdom In a room with a view Disneyland across the street But after nine months in line The ride malfunctioned Lungs not working No time to linger in my mother’s arms To be held close I would have died then and there Without the second womb Made of metal And oxygen   Baptism 2: 1980 Born of Freshwater When I was held At...

Curly white hair Glasses A smile that is kind Although sometimes slightly strained And that’s almost all I know of you So for the rest I’m going to wing it But I mean it From that place that exists Between us all And when I look at you from The doorway there It seems to me That your eyes have seen Enough broken promises For a lifetime I only see you in church We barely...

The glossy pages of outdoor magazines are the admission tickets. Nylon and Gore-Tex nomads. Lovers of the adventurous life with paid time off. Communing with nature while eating astronaut food under the stars. Always keep it moving. You have to match the speed of gravity to stay in orbit. Don’t stop, or you might get lost… or just displaced.   Back to the land hippies spring up like flowers in shelters built from the ruins...