Mo’ther (mudh-), n. A female parent.

My mother was neither cradle nor lap

She was a sword, an arrow, an argument

Beautiful, sharp, and feline

Neither refuge nor anchor, my mother was a battle

Madre, f. Mujer que ha concebido o ha parido uno o más hijos.

Mi madre no era un arrullo ni un regazo

Era un sable, una saeta, un argumento

Bella, aguda, felina

A step at a time

We load the car with your grief and mine

Two suitcases and the guitar

Grief, you treasonable thing

A brie aux truffes set the disturbance in motion

A home called Trudi

Money, power, titles, aesthetics, social class, or eloquence, never impressed her

Dogs live too short a life

A dogbituary

The Therapist

It would be a voyage, she said

The destination: a more genuine, examined, less fragmented, version of myself

Beyondness

Where does the mind disappear to when bad news strikes us?

Instructions for the newborn child

Crush lavender seeds in your fingers, and then, eyes closed, take a deep breath into your hands

The truth I hold between your legs

You press your warm body onto me

I am still half asleep

My body too desires you, but not yet

Note to Self

You will keep forgetting what day of the week it is.

But you will rejoice with the warmth of spring sunshine on your face

El oído de Dios

Mirar el río hasta devenir río

¿Acaso no estamos hechos de agua?

Relevos

Hoy vi a la viejita que llevo adentro

Determinada, atrevida se asomó sin escrúpulos

Déjame decírtelo en vida

Yo, potra zaina, tan amante de mi libertad como del encierro de tu abrazo

Corrientes subcutáneas

Con cada inhalación me vuelvo más agua, menos carne, menos hueso

My sister’s name is Complicity

When I’m by her side, I slip back into my 7-year old me

Melba, the weaver

Melba became a pampered toddler; mothered by plenty, mothered by none

Cocofina of the World

I remember Cocofina of the world

Her back turned to the bedroom’s window

Eyes shut, chin up, taking deep breaths