poetry-ing
from the midst of a theatre
audience left
stage right
home
for so many years
conceptually
this place
specifically
home
for the next week
[or so]
NYC
January 29, 2023
sappy poems
for new york city bakeries
of a spouse still sitting at home without me
because they’re so good at caring for our
little broken puppy
and i’m off playing as an artiste
the way i’d hoped to be
January 25, 2023
i used to be so impressed
by those folks who sat
in a courtyard and offered
immediate poetry for any who asked
but i feel
after nearly two full years
of daily writing
and spouting
whatever comes to the top of my poet-brain
i could probably buy a typewriter
and park myself in any park in the city
and ask for only tips in a jar
and write and write and write for others
and maybe that
would be an artist’s life
for me
July 24, 2022
i didn’t think i would,
but i
felt *something*
while observing
curtain call
at that broadway theater
yesterday afternoon.
a little something
was the show itself—
pushing boundaries,
addressing hard topics,
calling in and calling out.
but another something
was simply seeing
human beings
on a stage
in front of hundreds/thousands—
a crowd
here to see
all Black faces and voices
and it being my
(technically accidental)
return
to seeing
live theatre…
auspicious?
inspiring?
fortuitous?
serendipity…
perhaps broadway is changing for the better?
—but—
while those feelings are definitely in there,
i think there was something else,
something additional…
a giant sense of
‘i didn’t let myself miss this
until right now’
i’ve missed the theater itself
physically
psychologically,
conceptually,
and i’ve missed performing on stage,
of course,
that’s in my blood—
but something in me missed
the actual
going to see
a good show
i didn’t know that about myself
until just now
and i’ll keep it
close
to my heart
July 20, 2022
the temperature
is supposed to get
all the way up to
97 degrees
i’ll be spending some time
in manhattan
so it’ll probably feel like
107 at least.
and in the subway system,
underground,
waiting for the train,
oof, maybe 137
but once i’m on the train,
the a/c blasting
will make me shiver
like it’s the middle of winter
(unless, of course, the air conditioning is broken
in whichever particular train car
i happen to enter)
(and i have to decide
on clothing
to fit all those
scenarios…)
(summer in the city is no joke)
July 11, 2022
riding that high
back to stage
i can sing
i can engage an audience
i can act through a song
i can do riffs and runs (?maybe?)
i can do all the things
i am talented
i am hardworking
i can do it
i can do it
i can do it
i am good enough
i am enough
let this be a reminder
to my future self
who does’t believe
in me
July 2, 2022
i have a recurring dream
(in that it has happened twice)
where i’m trying to get to a
circus training place in
Bushwick
but the daytime trains are all delayed
so i have to take a lesser known line
but instead of being like a regular
subway
system
or even an
elevated train
it is pretty much a
mine cart
tromping
open aired
through secret forested areas of Brooklyn
on smaller rail lines
held up on top of stones and rocks
reminiscent of the tracks
i grew up
walking along
at all hours
day
and
night.
June 19, 2022
Juneteenth
a word i had never heard
until the summer before my
senior year in high school
when i started hanging around
Oberlin, Ohio
Juneteenth
a day i didn’t know the history of
until i had the information coming at me
from multiple sources
(my own research/
podcasts about history/
friends who loved educating)
well into my second attempt at college
Juneteenth
a celebration i don’t think i fully understood
until living in New York
through the surge of Black Lives Matter
marches
/
protests
in 2020
Juneteenth
this year
we’re hosting a small gathering of friends
and we are excited to be the ones
doing the work
hosting
cooking
serving
celebrating
because if the United States isn’t going to put on its
Big-Government-Pants
and hand out reparations owed,
we might as well start
one family at a time.
June 11, 2022
puppies
playing
in the morning
the joy
it brings
me
gnaw on that rope!
chase that bouncy kong!
harass that hasslecat!
(the world is your dog park)
~~~
commotion:
the morning;
the coffee.
~~~
the promoting
of shows
always
stresses me
the buttz
out
(
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/aerial-arts-nyc-iaw-showcase-tickets-358998302587
if you want to zoom
in
)
March 20, 2022
New York City
is giving us
a true
spring!
(for the first time
in years)
yes, we were here in
Brooklyn
for two springs in a row,
but you’ve got to admit
the spring of
2020
was a little more surrealistic
than springtime
in terms of
~everything~
and please, Brooklyn, forgive us
for only observing
your brick walls
consistently
and so rarely entering
the park five minutes away
and before that,
Wisconsin,
with its approximate
two days of spring
(slightly more if you count
‘muddy’
as the season)
and half the time
snow would hit
full force
months after
we thought
spring was finally upon us
(and the next day
the blistering heat
of a midwest summer)
but here
in our own yard
we’ve seen the green
pop up from the ground
and even the days were a little snow
sprinkled the earth
the buds didn’t give up
they kept up
popped out
now, not just green,
we have purple, yellow, white,
black bumble bees buzzing
(a veritable enby flag of a backyard)
and we’ve eaten breakfasts,
had coffee,
made calls,
read,
worked,
watched,
on a deck that overlooks it all
and we breathe it in
slowing down
soaking it up
like the sun
A Bronx Spring.