Sonnet CCCXXXIII

Its garden dead, its contents cold and bare,
What’s left is just a shell to be repaired.
The sprawling weeds reign king, the grass is long;
the tulips lay forgotten in the throng.

The truck sits, blocking all the driveway space,
forbidding in its grand yet simple grace.
The kids play all around, unbidden, free,
but pause to wave as I pass, wondering.

How love had driven them to tend their home!
The sentiments have fled, one can behold –
the house is peeling, barren, messy, tired.
But final rays of afternoon ignite;
the sparkling windows flash a last farewell.
The truck clangs shut, and leaves with troll-like stealth.

Sonnet CCCXXV

we long to drink we long for drugs and sex
were wicked teens strung high by natures hex
adrenaline and folly are our chant
our words are slurred our movements are a dance
were on computers every waking hour
ignoring chores and acting simply sour
were rude
               were boorish
                                    always such a mess
at every moment mad or quite depressed

and Yet –
               We still take buses to our school;
               Our mothers still remind us of the cold;
               We’re still subject to all our father’s rules;
               And frankly, we’re still kids – we’re not that old.

But rebels we shall stay, extreme or mild,
each one of us an adult-werewolf-child.

Sonnet CCCXXIII

O newborn baby, quiet as a sheep,

your eyes are tightly closed in tender sleep!

How soft your rosy skin, how small your lips;

What tiny nails upon your fingertips!

Your eyes are opening, first one, alone

(the other one is much too tired to show)!

Your ears, two conches, listen all around –

The world’s a brand new place, so full of sound!

But happiness dissolves to angry cries,

Much stronger than expected of this child!

Poor Dad and Mommy try and search and try…

But calming Baby takes awhile!

Then soon she’s off again, asleep for hours,

A precious little angel, sweetly sour.

Sonnet CCCXX

Upon a glassy sea of sapphire,
two equal winds suspend our men.
What good is mutinous desire
when forces such as these attend?

The southern wind propels us northward;
the northern wind impels us southward.
Their equal strengths thus cancel out,
and hence we move not north nor south.

Our hopeless map is weak and futile –
our whims are simply whims, at most.
We have no say in where we go –
we’re at the mercy of such reptiles.

How cruelly vacant Titans play,
whose empty sighs control our fates!

Sonnet CCXXXIII

“DIVORCE” was not a word that Adam heard before.
He first encountered it when he was five or six.
Remembering his mommy’s voice in little hicks,
she told him Daddy wasn’t coming anymore.
He left for good: he packed his bags and shut the door.
Although they had divorced, she didn’t feel a fix
for sadness in her heart. And Adam was a mix –
confused and sad. But never did he ask for more.

At Christmas, Adam asked his mommy, puzzled, sad,
why Santa Claus had stopped to come – or was he mad?

And Mommy gently said that Santa loves him still,
but doesn’t have a lot of time or money now.
And Mommy gently kissed him on his little brow
and promised him she loves him. And she always will.

Sonnet CCVII

With wild abandon, all the kids would run around.
We’d messify the basement like a big stampede.
We’d moo like cows, we’d screech like birds, we’d mount a steed
and fly like cheetahs, searching like a wise, old hound.
We’d play some board games. Bored, we’d board a couch and read.
And then we’d watch T.V. until we had to eat.
We’d go upstairs, complaining, making such a sound.

But none of us would eat a thing. We’d want to play.
For weeks we waited for this frabjous party day!

We’d run downstairs and raise a ruckus there once more.
We couldn’t tell how late it was – we didn’t care –
We only wanted fun and played our truth or dare -
but then they had to leave, departing out the door.

Sonnet CCI

Away, away, some distant galaxy away,
suspended in a murky fluid, dark and red,
the dancing bubbles floated ‘round my tiny head
and splashed around as all my little fingers played.
While kicking Mother’s stomach every single place,
my Mother’s yummy nutrients had kept me fed.
Then bright and warm one noon, born on a pallid bed,
I left my mother’s womb to see the brand-new day.

And what a splendid day it was! So loud and bright!
I saw the noisy world and screamed with all my might.

My mother, with a home-cut, shabby haircut, said,
“Oh what a splendid day it is!” Her face was bright.
She saw her little baby, hugged him with her might,
and he was I, a little baby, wet and red.

Sonnet CC

I used to live in Texas long ago.
The weather always shined so languorously.
In fall, there was a fleeting little breeze
and winter was a joke – there was no snow.
Our small apartment was beside a road
with palm trees bordering, so slim and high.
The flat was small and filled with moths and flies,
and cockroaches had pestered the abode.
Longfellow Elementary School was near,
and dusty baseball parks were near as well.
I came home daily, watching Spanish shows
and missed my mom, who wasn’t very near.
She studied in Purdue, said she was well,
and kissed her letters, sending lipstick home.