Least Read Poems for and About Parents

a sunken
bulldozer
covered
by the Northwest

a fossil
symptom
of man between
Swan Lake and  
Kreger Lake  
 
between pterodactyls  
and annihilation  
 
it disappeared  
in a manner  
of intervals  
 
by the sunfeather  
and moonroll
 
by Mount Tambora  
of the year  
without summer  
 
by the tsunamis  
of elephants  
running to peak  
as an alarm  
 
by the robin bleary  
owl dives  
 
by the...

03/30

immemorial

Although she rarely talked about her past
I’ve always known she was a quiet survivor.
Born on Molokai, Hawaii, back in the days
where people called it “Leper Island”
she eventually grew up in Pearl City, Oahu.

She used to tell me how it felt when the
Japanese bombed the island – similar to
earthquakes in California.
Teachers had everyone scuttling beneath
their wooden school desks.

I came to learn more about her past
when she got much older – waiting
impatiently for herself to pass....

A childhood

Stony was the soil of my childhood
A tiny room above the stable
Cold was the night
A straw mattress and mice
Ice crystal on the roof
Dreaming of running somewhere
Anywhere but here
A pale dawn
The sun is white this morning
In the barn animals stir
No more time to dream
Tomorrow he will run away

3/30

Seeing you in my dreams
Never gets any easier

There’s a different kind of heartache
That comes with this kind of grief

I miss you everyday
And think of all the things you're not here for

Some days are just harder
Where everything reminds me of you

Maybe it's the cloudy weather
And the chill that's in the air

But today, I can’t seem to stop thinking
Of how much I could use one of your hugs