when dogs

dream and their feet paddle and their lips twitch and snarl

they are fighting chasing hunting playing

I dream about pretty young men wanting me

wake heart racing

chasing youth

I dream about my animals

wake crying out

I dream about home

I know board feet   I know rafters

dogs dream like water carving a desired path

play  fight  chase

-->

after the first hard freeze everything rattles

what was flowers and swishing green is now stiff and seedless

shades of brown and yellow

rattling in a wind that says to me

gather some around you

stash some elsewhere

hammer tight the roof nails

burn something.

Nesting Doll

Some days I’m still her

she is inside me like a nesting doll

some days I split open

and there she is

still that crass and skinny cast off

a pre teen beauty queen

learning to work

in a halter top mini- skirt

and leg warmers

swaying and twirling her way around the skate rink

to Journey

Rick James

Joan Jett
lovin rock n roll in her glitter stained roller skates

hair feathered roach clips

and teased lips

red and her high heels waiting in the rental locker
lights swirling

she’s thinking

 I’ve got this

 I'm ok, ya know?
 just ok.

 the lights will save me
 the movement will save me
 I'm worth saving

 a bigger me will grow

 up and around this mess like armour

and having stayed alive til puberty

having carried it all

like a bag of knives

this girl will get to rest

she’ll get to nest.

                                                                                                                                                                                              

gintaras

the day the moon swallowed the sun

and the clocks went back

the light

was amber when I woke

there was mist and rainbow

I wonder if I’ve paid enough attention to the dead

are their stories in me

had I listened close 

before they began their journey 

on the back of the moon

with a plan to have the sun

for breakfast

I make toast and tea

think of my immigrant father

and the war trauma he carried in his young heart

when he left

think of  the women

edna

gladys

mary

nellie

and so many more

enduring great lake winters

with Baltic sea air in their lungs

factories, shops and children bearing

lithuanian memories

with nursing home endings

closing their eyes and seeing the amber light

resin that endures and adorns

dreams.