upmc poetry

UPMC POETRY

 

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sea salt, 
peonies in summer
an apple kissed by rain
grapevines twirled about your fingers.

a glass of orange juice,
grandma's lasagna after church,
the crash of blue flowers across the front yard, 
a cup of tea.

(lemon and ginger, licorice and peppermint,
chamomile and honey, 
earl gray, hot.)

birthday cake in 1997. 
roses after a violin concert
dad drinking coffee on the turnpike
a church filled with lilies.

babka bread,
toasted, fresh with butter,
(eat those bread crusts, they'll put hair on your chest)
ham and cloves and poppy seed rolls
walnuts, cream cheese, 
a bottle of wine.         

oats mixed with glitter and tossed into the snow. 
gingerbread, when you can't feel your fingertips 

cough syrup and saltine crackers.

a single tomato,
picked fresh with dirt under your fingernails
and the taste of God in your teeth.

sunlight.



the first banana muffin you ever bought
cherry cheesecake lollipops
a heady rush of opium perfume
raspberries, at the edge of the garden.

sharing a banana split with your mom
ribbon candy, piled in glass bowls,
molasses by the spoonful,

bone broth.
a live recording of a todd rundgren concert.

hot dogs on a new york sidewalk,
meatloaf, ketchup, mashed potatoes.
white house cherry ice cream on the boardwalk.
calamari at your aunt's house, tricked onto your tongue,

cucumbers at the airport,
almonds in the back seat of a stranger's car. 

"the biggest slice of pizza I've ever seen--"

pomanders
mulled cider
star anise on your tongue,
wassail, wassail,

kabocha squash, roasted for an hour.
the sweet rind of a lemon.

too many chocolate santas, 
(or just enough)

 

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to learn to hold life within you again,
(to become fuel for the fires of love)
you must first learn to recognize its sweet secret language
folded up, cloaked and hidden,
(in swaddling clothes)
cradled in the arms of the earth 
sung as a celestial mother's lullaby.

(the cream of the crop)
(the top of the heap)

the stars are as white as milk.

(the pelican pierces her breast--)

 

"take this, all of you…"

 

dawn breaks;
flowers bloom and burst upon the spring-fresh trees,
suckling calves toddle hopefully upon infant legs 
seeds begin to sprout anew, 
shooting forth in verdant delicacy 
(veiling indomitable hope)
life breaking through the shells of death.

(taste and see,
this most desirable part
this abundance of comfort
what goodness,
what blessing--)

 

so it is with you.

(softness is not a scourge)

 

the whales in the sea sing of you.
(insulate your heart against the chill of the unknown)
they, too, offer life for life,
(to paint with your very self)
melting into luminance,
a lamp for your feet, holding the blood of olives--

the fat of the land sustains us.
(I anoint you, my child;)
the riches of Creation overflow at each step
every wonder, every beating heart, every thing that breathes,
a land of milk and honey.
 

(these dry bones shall live again,)
 

to learn to hold life within you again
you must not fear its fertility 
for it is only in such bounteous love 

to dance,
to sing,
to grow--

that we, too, 
can be big enough to embrace the world.

 

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I am here,
I am here,
I am

[HERE]

here.

hear

the glorious song of angels

(an'jel;)

 

humming in the ceiling fans
springing from every locked door
threading their fingers into yours
(invisible, unbearable, clear and electric)
in tune to the beat of your blood

 

I am here.

 

where is now, when is this,
caught in a child's soap-bubble dream
the leather seats of a couch,

paper and suede
wood floors and cold glass windows
the invisible veil between here and there,

(where is here?)
 

the veil is torn, beloved;

 

to throw the curtains open
to breathe the air from so many lungs
to say again to yourself, here, here,

 

everywhere.

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dancing across your fingertips,
stars captured like fireflies
glimmer and tremble
in the velvet-black kiss of night
leaning above you as a lover, as comfort,
wrapping you up in east-to-west arms.

 

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pellucid blue morning 
washes down upon you 
spilling through dawn-cool glass


I wake up,
thirsty
I wake up to a wave (form) of blue
joyously crashing upon sore eyelids
 

rich squares of light
smack-dab on the wall there, 
brightness spread sumptuous like butter(fly wings) 
across the thirst-slaked (desert) (of your wall)


(a balm of blue)
a (soothing) symphony in the silence
of dawn
 

trumpets,
(sunlight)

percussion of arched roofs
roman pillars
city streets like violin strings
 

(play it again, sam)

 

and my mouth is so many piano keys




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