Kathleen, Queen of the Desert

Originally published in an LLL ALL

Plump and warm
Soft and buttery
Cut in the shape of two little hands,
Take a nibble
Get a giggle
Sugar cookies.

(more…)

Originally published in LLL of New Mexico’s Enchantment

He doesn’t have my Cary Grant chin
He doesn’t have my eyes
Or my nose
Or my square jaw.

(more…)

Originally published in LLL of Ohio’s The Circle, 1989

Sway and sway
Two step, dip
Sway and sway again;
Cheek to cheek
Every night
The perfect partner on the floor.

(more…)

Originally published in LLL of New Mexico’s Enchantment

Two loaves of bread in each batch.
One loaf fresh, hot, and buttered for us
The other into the freezer to wait.

(more…)

Originally published in LLL of New Mexico’s Enchantment

I never got to meet you,
Little, tiny almost-child;
You slipped away
To the stars and the moon
And didn’t come back
To tell Mommy how beautiful they were.

(more…)

I had always been saying,
“I have one son and a baby.”
You were still so little
Even though you could stand
And yell and play.

(more…)

Originally published in LLL of New Mexico’s Enchantment, Winter 1986

I didn’t know about him for a long time.
It had been an afternoon–an ordinary summer afternoon,
August 9, 1963;
I was home in the kitchen,
My mom was chopping something.
Patrick Kennedy had just died,
The President’s little baby boy,
I told my mother it made me sad.
She stopped.

(more…)

Originally published in LLL of Texas’s Ten-Gallon Tidings, Fall 1993

I stared out
Past the drapes
Past the tears
Past a layette I guess
I won’t be needing

To the mailbox.

(more…)

All three boys were in our tree
When suddenly
At some command
They reappeared
In the front yard hammock.

(more…)

There were grapes and granola bars, rice cakes, and jam
Little bags of popcorn and sandwiches of ham
Peanut butter crackers and bagels and cheese
And everything I love to eat in piles up to my knees!
But my mommy said, “No!”
Not before we all go!
That good stuff is all for the trip!”

(more…)