Lune for Susan

lune for Susan

what's a neighbor?

walking the years     

together, with and without dogs

talking things over

jogging the streets

up and down hills, straightaways

we get older

she plants gardens

bad things happen, good things

she teaches me

our mothers die

we bring each other food

our children move

we talk, walk

through water, winters, catastrophe, holidays

we tell stories

logging the miles

jogging the streets and trails

talking the years

Daughter #5 - Fail

Fail.                Now—
there’s a beautiful name for a girl.

from “The Dutiful Sister Ever Failing” by Kirsten Kaschock

*********

Well, I asked the Oracle and the Oracle answered back. Did the Oracle know I was naming my daughters, one by one? Did the Oracle guess?*

Fail. My beautiful Fail. You will never worry about expectations, you will never feel you are falling short. Fail, my tiny Fail, I see you even when you are hiding, I know where you are, and I predict this for you: your taller, louder, more aggressive sisters will clamor and succeed and they will suffer for it, they will be targets and deal with potshots and everyone will be gunning for them. You will be heads and shoulders tinier, off in a corner, and you will be wildly succeeding. Quietly. Unexpectedly.

Fail is a
name for a beautiful girl
for a star.

Fail you can

go now. I've named you

you'll go far.

*The Bibliomancy Oracle, http://bibliomancyoracle.tumblr.com/askoracle

Daughter #4: Nameless

My Nameless Daughter Implores Me:

Still human here

It's raining names and flooding

Yesterday's soggy newspaper

Waking up slow

It thundered in the night

It's raining poems

Come find me

Under the tents of gooseflesh

Waking up muddy

Still human though

Come name me something please

I can't wait

Cover me up

Somebody must have a name

I can use

Mooning

MOONING

curve me sideways

drink me in the shade

send me postcards

write my mother

tell her anything you like

send her chocolate

shoot my longings

dress them up like outerspacemen

shoot them flat

stop the presses

drive them wild with hesitation

tell them no.

Just Asking (lune for napowrimo)

Just Asking

see the green?
it's just like the windows
of my teens

feel the cold?
put an extra sweater on
we can wait

want to dance?
make the music up yourself
because you can

feel me shiver?
that's the ghosts of all-my-sins
keep me warm.

[today's Napowrimo challenge, a lune is one or more stanzas of 3-5-3 words. that's it!]