for the love of a new world,

ensemble.

we impart nothing,

understand less,

thirst for more

and in the twilight, retreat.

 

where are we?

wondering or not,

wandering in pursuit of happiness.

nothing’s changed

so why does it feel different?

 

this place

a space unrecognizable.

familiar enough to get used to it.

this place

no place you or I belong

but for the sake of it, we accept.

 

eternity an every day thing to navigate

and then the abyss of total recognition.

how we swim to keep up.

how we hope to swim

with or without,

defenseless.

with or without a compass,

with or without

and then….

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                MM

            11/20/09

 

 

 

 

you are of one mind.
the one that used to be
with clarity, focus and insight
and the one that forgets in seconds,
remembers the neighborhood as a place of single origin,
the family of five decades ago.
when faced with change you are angry and feral,
hostility a defense mechanism as primal as the days
before fire when survival of the fittest left the vulnerable
unprotected. oh mother, how can you say these things to me
with a viciousness I have never witnessed?
how do you refuse father the help he needs?
you say he will become an invalid (at 102)
how do we strip you of your identity when we have to make this move?

made of steel, worked in stone
revolutionary for the sake of it.
we move through that universal space called family
with or without you.
but in the dark of night
there is no escape
from the love, the angst, the grief,
the release our family trait,
our down fall.
we are one, one for all,
and none of that at all.
we are, with or without,
always have been
and now without you,
the you of us, the us that we always knew,
we continue to evolve as you would hope we would.
farewell mother,
protector, provider, lover of all things,
animal, human and otherwise.
farewell.
we have not even begun
to say goodbye so let this be our
first time on this day, your 90th birthday.