silly b-day times
with pies for breakfast
and original mystery afternoons
and i’m still so stoked to see
my birthday date
scrawled across the top of
everything
today
[happy b-day to me!]
thanksgiving
November 28, 2024
lost in my own thoughts
not about anything in particular
or even anything of worth
to my morning poetry adventure
just thoughts
about thoughts
about writing
about puppies
and thougths
about puppies
and bellies
and care
and the care we take
and the care we refuse
and everything as we lead up to
thanksgiving, and all that comes with it
the word
the history
the baggage
the holiday
the tradition
the fact that this country shouldn’t even exist
but here we are, on it
let’s care for Turtle Island while we still can,
got it?
November 25, 2022
give thanks
to the trees and rivers and oceans and skies
give thanks
to the people and animals who fulfill your lives
give thanks
to the universe that allows you to be
but maybe
forgo
giving thanks
to systems of oppression
everywhere they are/may be
a post-thanksgiving thanks-giving
November 25, 2021 (part two)
there are sad firsts:
first thanksgiving without big family
first thanksgiving without talking with my dad at dinner
first thanksgiving spent traveling
and then
there are the fun firsts:
first thanksgiving with Kip’s family
(first time all family and partners in one place at one time)
first thanksgiving solidly baking pies all day
(instead of just treating it like a social get-together)
first thanksgiving learning new traditions
(ones that the rest of the kids know so well they can recite lines from memory
before the muppets even start speaking)
and
first thanksgiving that i’m doing my best
to
appreciate family,
but hold them accountable,
and to remember the root of the ‘first’ ‘thanksgiving,’
and everything/everyone this country is built
on top of.
November 25, 2021
the parade
the family
the performances
the silly dancing credit cards
the soldering
the excitement
the traveling
the traditions
(new and old)
here i come
here we come
here i go
here
we
go
November 24, 2021 (part two)
Family means so much
to so many people
my genetic relatives profess
Family
as the utmost of all people
those who have your back no matter what
the only humans you can truly count on
(most of them still live within a thirty minute drive of each other to this day.)
my friends, my community, unaccepted within their blood kin
find Found Family
to love them
without reservation
without expectation
without conditions
and count on each other
i am lucky enough to have both
blood and non-blood relations
who love me
unconditionally
but that brings with it
division of time
of love
of feelings
of celebrations
(and it is only the Family from birth
who saw me grow as i did
which is sometimes a good thing
and sometimes a not so good thing;
and there are memories,
sometimes lovely
sometimes hard
when in their company)
but
there is an awfully grand sense of growing
when i am able to fully help with the labor
i only ever messed up or ignored
as a child;
and to be able to pass that on to
the children younger than myself…
that feeling, it’s
Indescribable.
November 20, 2021 (Part Two)
is the not knowing
whether or not
[family time]
will be a thing
this year
worse
than just not having it
at all
last year?
[yes.]
November 18, 2021
the stress
and hassle
of planning for a family visit
is made all the more complex
in this time of COVID.
we [the family] are all vaccinated,
but half of us work
(or have worked)
in healthcare
so we know,
we know.
so is it worth
the 8+ hour drive
with dog?
is it worth traveling
(however carefully)
through some places with
less than stellar rates?
is it worth
even going
if we have a cold?
(every illness now is
a moment of pause
even if we know it isn’t
a coronavirus)
and with the family
not all that enthused anyway
should we again,
like last year
say next year?
[next year]
[next year]
kipventures 