Not The Rockefellers

"blanket of stars" ~ Rene 2009 “You'll find trouble in paradise if you seek paradise in trouble“… he proclaims the news  in his best outside,  bible belted voice from his lawnchair pulpit  in front of the Polaris Shop n Fill he's been there for years a humming fluorescent martyr saving scratch off souls seated  at the right hand of a sputtering neon star  his words gave her pause hung up inside  white smoke and illuminated  by silver winks and blue flickers the star twinkles off the bell on the door jingles she pays for her fill-up  buys him a cup of coffee and a pack of cigs for all that she has done and failed  to do this will make it right this will make it right this will make it right he smiles at her offerings they are acceptable gifts she is good she is good she is good the bell on the door jingles the star hisses  back to life looking d...

Golden Late afternoon light bathes her As she sleeps Her fingers curled  Shrimp-like Under her cheek She smiles Dreaming Of puppies Or seashells A joyful mystery To me I gaze for a minute Or ten I still see A baby’s face Be still My baby Be my baby still This moment Frozen  In Amber Peace ~ Rene 2009

Rene 2009 she sits  on the curb across the street from his house tracing slow deliberate circles around a scab  on her knee fighting the strongest urge  to pick at it every once in a while she looks up head tilted squinting one eye underneath hopeful dirty blonde bangs searching for release from a door crack she sits  on the curb across the street from his house tracing with her fingertip in the sand that runs along the gutter making smilies and peace signs around a single word spelled out in bits of gravel one single  word she sits on the curb across the street from his house rubbing a freckled nose wishing, hoping waiting  for the curtains to part for a door latch to be heard and for   "sorry" to be seen Peace ~ Rene 2009

"November Lace" Rene 2009

photo by Mary 2007 "Well, there's a first for everything"  my mother declared as she sealed up a greeting card envelope. What do you mean, Ma?, I say kinda casually, waiting for her to say something funny. "It's the first time I signed a card with just Grandma, instead of Grandma and Grandpa". She catches me off guard and I stop for a second, to process what she had just said. Because of the "you're not going to believe this" tone of her voice, I thought she was going to say something witty or tell me story. I didn't fully realize the heaviness in her heart when she said what she had said. This was just another thing to check off on her list of firsts. The list that replaced her last list..of lasts. Since my father's passing in August 2008, we have been through many lasts and many firsts. We were together as a family, through most of them. Planning the wake, the funeral, the Mass. Picking out a plot. Keeping my father...