Shoki Para Ti

May I make mini-altars on my dashboard?
Sacrificial prayers, a Shoki for you.
Me, dying on the steps of your temple
holding only your hand,
May I unspin the web, so the demons flee with me?
No need for show, right?
I take what I brought
like a sick Santa using gifts as a guise.
I stuff them back into my sack.
Retreat.
My love a muse.
I let go so often,
a way of holding on.
If I could guarantee you would not die, too
I would kill myself at your feet
just to run my fingers along your lifeline.

The Constant Slowing of My Roll

Last week, after waking up three days in a row with my throat swollen close to closed, I went to the doctor.
Strep. Penicillin.
But I had a funeral to attend Friday and family Thanksgiving on Saturday, and church on Sunday.
No time to be sick.
My medicine had been making me wonky, so I finally gave in. Monday, I slept for twenty hours.
I'm still trying to get over wasting a day.
I decided to take my meds at night only, thinking to call the doctor after the holidays.
But today, my face started burning and
My body started itching and red blotches appeared randomly.
I give thanks for Benadryl and hominy casserole and kids who drive and kids who take care of me and husbands who get allergy medicine and for football and family and God who has seen me through this unhealthy year.
But please, let 41, be the year of something new.

Dallas

I'm starting to really like my city, but geez is it changing!
I found myself crossing the Margaret Hunt Hill bridge last Saturday and I was completely turned around. I think I was a bit mesmerized.
It made me think about our Grandmothers who used to shop and dine downtown as young women, but have been too nervous to drive there for at least twenty years.
"Here's where Titches used to be. And
that used to be Greene's," they say.
But there are not enough memory markers to make them comfortable enough to drive there on their own.
These days,I find myself saying, "My city is changing. Wow. Finally."
I rode the bus downtown for four years in high school, twenty years ago, and I can still find my way most anywhere from Arts Magnet. But back then,downtown was gray and listless.
Today, the buildings, the new parks, the endless places to eat, and venues for art and entertainment make me smile.
But the people, seeing the people living out their lives down here makes me feel happy. Like I live in a real city.