written 1998
Standing alone, Tall and proud A dew drop trickles across her bro… Lithely bending to the breeze, But never falling to her knees.
She can not say that She wishes you had never Come into her life Because that isn’t quite true. She can say that
Don’t lollygag, scalawag, scurry o… Your mama is waiting. You’ve tarr… The loblolly pine branches tap a t… You’d best get on back 'cause you’… The scuppernong stain 'round the r…
Down by the river, Where the green chilies dry, Where the peppers are sorted & siz… Down by the river, Where the herons’ dark shadows,
An old gray headed grandma sat alo… She looked out her window with a h… She said, “I guess no one cares o… When suddenly there came a soft kn… She got up slowly and limped acros…
As spoons in a drawer She has her pillow sleep And when her head falls From burdens deep It’s her pillow she finds
The world’s getting weaker and wis… Her mother used to say. What’s going to happen to a people Who never stop to pray? Is there no hope for tomorrow?
She is a consumer in a living hell… She is manic-depressed Bi-Polar y… She takes pills, pills, pills. Th… There’s still lots of stigma. Too… But there will come a day when she…
When she looks on the ground She sees such beautiful flowers And she thinks of stars so bright In the sky she imagined in space All the planets must be so hot
She opens your creaky door, And walks across your noisy floor. The wind is blowing the curtains i… There you are, asleep again. How could you break her tender hea…
They were lying side by side In the mud, in the foreign mud. Listening to the music Of fire and steel, and jagged stee… With fear squeezing their hearts
Children run and laugh and play Even in their shortened day A soft dry breeze Threatens all the crumpled leaves As Winter slowly makes its mark
Look at those hands Which hung at her sides When the softest Whisper of a kiss Surprised her forehead.
She eternally sleeps, Forever seventeen, In the ground Beneath Poseyville. Just a face in the crowd
Still water in the beaver pond Songbirds tune to a trumpeter swan Willow waves like a maestros wand Ol’ Chickahominy sings her song Big ol’ bullfrog singin’ bass