CAIN'S MARK

“Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” – Proverb

Cain’s Mark

These marks

on the surface of my

skin have begun to

run and form tunnels

to my heart.

Those marks, coy as

shy tears

and dysfunctional lies,

wrangle with the

raped raw

arteries of my life

pushing blood to

those marks from

red stinging

finger tips, crashing

on the surface of my flesh,

leaving

a road map

to my magnum opus.

The mark, the fingerprint,

the passionate bruise,

the blood;

the symbols of my heart

are the bull’s eye for

my marks-woman’s rifle--

a bullet giving birth to

my stricken life,

fallen,

cursed,

risen,

and found

to be the score of my purpose.

The marks are now on my bones,

in my breath,

inscribed on my sword,

touched by my dignity,

and guided by my strength to

lead these scars forward.

TJKG

SMILE THERAPY43-- OOPS ON TUESDAY

Smile Therapy 43

I am in smile therapy
with this practical statement--

"Since everything is in our heads, 
we had better not lose them."
 Said Coco Chanel to Ken.

SMILE THERAPY 42

Smile Therapy 42

I am in smile therapy
even when I can't think
of anything to smile about!

Please share a smile with me.

TJKG

MEDIEVAL CODE OF FAITHFULNESS

Medieval Code of Faithfulness

A black and white of Earhart,

(hung above pearled porcelain tiles)

her stoic eyes read a fate in the sky,

a fate written on equalities’ hidden water;

no exceptions for the life of the woman.

Before morning has started,

stored on flash memory,

I fade into a hallow hallway—

silently moving along time,

finding myself a part of the dark chamber,

displaced out of their family pictures—

Mother and Father--

still faces hold history,

own dignity of choice,

posed hands passing secrets,

souls unknown to my mind.

Breath strapped in my step as my

eyes shutter the light of

the open bathroom door.

                                       Amelia’s fate

is understood; 

a rounded woman sits in my frame.

Her legs spread,

white paper magnified,

black curls fallen, and

blood.

TJKG

SMILE THERAPY 41

Smile Therapy 41

I am in smile therapy
when I get to go home.

TJKG

REELING AND HUNKERING

REELING AND HUNKERING

(Under Sandy’s Fire)

Rise up in distress,

descend in compassion--

I used to hang out as a blond.

Controversial and twisted,

a hurricane of night’s questions--

not much could shake me--

                                           now--

other than life, or one glimpse of death.

Life is a language of red lines and fallen trees,

a quiet way, a convincing fire to demand a step aside.

She is a resurrection of her windy sin,

a sheath of rain reflecting.

Her soul’s body is listening to

the crank of hell left in my heart--

a callous which no longer defines me,

time’s evanescence  tunes the morning light.

I will not be my own burden--

rummaging through the

dialect of guilt—

it was a moment when the bars in my heart

began to melt.

She looked at me last night

and questioned her meaning;

I looked at her today and

understood mine.

If I speak too loudly, I will be the prisoner.

If I walk too hard, I will crack.

I remember in the quiet of midnight

the owls’ unfathomable flight.

TJKG

SMILE THERAPY 40

Smile Therapy 40

I am in smile therapy today
because I need therapy.
Ha Ha, I know, so do you.

TJKG