I remember us
sitting on my dorm bed.
Our eyes closed
you prayed for me…
I smelled cinnamon and sugar.

Over the years,
from your art-shows in Miami, Atlanta,
Long Island, you’d say you longed for peace and quiet.
You ended with a prayer
for me… I smelled cinnamon and sugar.

I wish
that when I asked how you were,
you wouldn’t have said,
“No complaints.”
(When someone says that now, I worry.)

I received a phone call. …

There was a wound: a shame a heartbreak,
a flying off for hope
until I became muted
behind shames, wounds, heartbreaks -
tears in the fabric of hope, dropping myself into
oblivion.

I kept these poundings on my chest
inside
with no words for them
except “Mute me”.

I saw them as sticky notes . . .
one
after
another
covering my vision of
my eternity, my soul, my faith, my joy.

At 67, I took off one
then another,
each one
A learning tool,
or wound wanting Wraps of hugs

until all was left but learning and blessing with…

My friend Ruth asks me not to tell anyone. “There is an opening at the dialysis center for a social worker, but the manager is difficult…” she warns. “She’s fired a number of staff members and makes racist remarks.”

As a widow who needs income, and a single mother of a 16-year-old, I apply anyway. I meet the manager, whose face is framed by dark, straight neck-length hair and bangs. She seems pleasant, yet picky about how I complete the dreaded cloud of paperwork she’s handed me. She talks in a staccato rhythm. I can handle this! …

Good bright angel, Comfort me round
with your wings in Silent sound.
I wrap my arms solidly ‘round me holding tight in this
Home of mystery.

Let your kindness shine my heart that knows, open
Window for this day of love to start.
Thanks for this drop of faith to see I’m not alone in all
Of history, I know you, you know me.

Good bright angel let me feel
The kind, good heart of all who’re near.
Good kind angels light my thought
In sweetness let my words be brought.

You’re within, I’m not sure where, Within, without, I…

Attentive— check
Cuddly — check
Always glad to see me — check
Likes to share spiritual teleseminar time with me — check
Affectionate when I cry — check
Protects me from dangers — check
Surprises me — check
Amuses me — check
Wants to spend time with me all the time — check
Likes to take walks together — check

“Ninety-five percent of the happiness you’re going to have in life is going to come from who you select as your partner,” Tony Robbins advised. …