Wednesday, May 12, 2010

US

Caring for you
is selfish
caring for myself
because our souls are linked
though they belong
to someone else.
I breathe for us
and to hold my breath
would only quicken
to happen again
our earthly death.
My heart is not golden
my generosity a scam
I say
Are you OK?
just to see if I AM.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Darkness

for Rizzo
A man once was eating
figs in his dark tent,
Enjoying each one
Thinking his money well spent.
Then he lit his lamp
And looked at his loot,
And saw worms all over
His wonderful fruit.
He remembered how tasty
They were before he knew
So he blew out the lamp
Until he was through.

My Lost One

My daughter is gone
in the trenches of hell
I cry out her name
Standing where she fell.
She was full of life
promise and hope,
But now is full of lies,
Desperation and dope.
She's lost her children
and she will lose her life,
Married to Heroin and Meth,
Homelessness and strife.
How does it hold her
so fast and tight?
As we pray and plead
with all our might?
For her to come home
To just be herself again!
Surely she's still there
Somewhere within??
Her golden hair
frames a ravaged face,
Her bright green eyes
Stare off into space.
I shake her, I yell
"Baby come home!"
And leave broken hearted.
I've lost one of my own.
rhoda

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

CA MRSA

2007
I've never tried
so hard to speak
and found myself
yet unheard.
Look out or you'll die!
You'd think all
would stop at that word,
Die. Dead. Deceased.
Kaput!
With man's fear
of mortality,
he should think
something's afoot.
Surely someone alive
besides me
Feels fear at these
words of fatality.
CA MRSA
pronounced like
See a pursa,
is a deadly disease
with several names,
and I'd say it's winning
if we're playing games.
MRSA gets inside
of you
from the person
next to you
in a drop of sweat
or any place wet
can carry it through
to you.
You don't even need a cut
or to have sex
or to share needles,
The Super Bug is uglier
than butt reaming beatles.
Awareness,
containment,
and death
to the BUG,
Is the only way to vent
and beat this thug.
I know a woman
who has been
cleanly scalped,
MRSA ate where hair
once grew ~
It was brown
the last I knew ~
Terrifying until it
started on an ear,
I think that's when
she really felt fear.
Most have it
in their skin still
Covering their torsos
at will.
With boils, bumps,
and scars,
covering every inch until
It starts on
the organs inside,
Then it's really
downhill
from dying
to has died.
No one here is quarantined,
Few are educated
about it at al,
Some still blame spiders
A microbe just seems
so very small.
Fact is, the AMA made this
And now turn their backs,
on those most
desperately needing aid
from whichever
side of the tracks,
Not nearly enough is done
Neither offense
or defense exists,
Who's targeted? Why, everyone!
I could tell you stories
from sun to sun.
I thought on lady
had it made,
because she was lucky enough
to have medicaid
for meds and to get
admitted for IV antibiotics,
and although a junkie,
they saw her great pain,
Even giving my friend narcotics.
This friend noticed the following
As a regular
daily thing.
The doctors and nurses
masked up
and changed gown,
Yet posted nothing
about MRSA's presence
in our town.
Visotors came and went
with no warning of
the risk they took
home with them,
maybe to you!
Perhaps she's even
your favorite deli's cook.
Her luck went south,
twas her without
the hair now,
and an ear to do without.
With MRSA boils
you may rush to the ER
and say, "Hey Doc!
Look here!"
He looks and backs up
then leans in to peer,
Backs up again and says,
"Spider bite!
You'll soon be out of here."
He explains how it will drain,
and writes you a script,
for a bite
That leaves you unequipped,
To fight the new
Big Bertha,
Plague, Super Bug,
Leprosy,
CA MRSA!
And maybe then you'll see
Part of what it is like
to be me,
Able to picture
how it feels
To be eaten alive
By a Flesh Eating microbe
Who'l eat antibiotics
and thrive.
I fear for those
who turn their backs,
Unless you find
Karma queer
For they could fall
fast and hard,
maybe yet this year!
Until your family
is like me,
Praying for you
with all their might
and you'll all join in
and take up my fight!
because now you have to
When those blind have sight.
Other countries have won,
Locked MRSA out tight!
While ours has not begun
or even admitted
we have a war to be won.
Learn what you can
and share what you know
What we understand we comand
So help our understanding to grow.
And pray for help,
sweating, writhing in contortions,
Aren't we reminded
of plagues
of Biblical proportions?
The Newtherlands have won
the battle with this Beast,
Let us not find
We only did
the very least
that we could have
about a tenth
of what we should have.
Please forgive us
EVERYONE!
For all the things
we should have
already done.

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Suicide

04/29/06
It's a choice to decide
for myself
When enough is enough,
Suicide.
I live in pain
those I love
make it worthwhile
So I remain
for a little while
and hang tough.
While suicide rests,
not as a future sin,
Just an option within
My rights
A way to abide
the pain I live in.
I used to see Hell
as the reward
for opting out
Before I fell
struggled to my feet
and looked about.
I won't be a coward
when I take my life
I'll be moving forward
done with the fight
In a body failing
with a heart
full of love,
My actions while alive
will or won't
get me to Heaven above.
Don't pray for my soul
when you hear suicide
I just took control
of my time
and right to die
by suicide.

Saturday, May 21, 2005

WHY


September 2004 One year after losing Mom
Why do I pound the floor
and scream my agony?
giving the carpet What For
and tears to sip for tea.
Who am I yelling at?
Who do I blame
for this feeling?
Do I pound the floor flat
because I can't reach
the ceiling?
Honesty's a bitch
when the truth
looks scary,
Enough to make you twitch
'cause this could get hairy.
But here it goes
the old One Two,
"God your plan blows!"
Now this poem
rings true.

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Legacy

2004 for my mother
Did you really think these things
wouldn't get done
Once you weren't here to do them?
Don't you know that
I'm the one
Who will let you shine
right through them?
"Don't worry about
my lilies anymore!
Not important!" you gasped,
"Let them go"
and then you clapsed
your hand with mine,
We said good by
one last time,
And don't you know?
Your legacy is mine.
Your lilies bloom
and the Koi
circle their roots,
and, yea,
I'll tell you the truth,
We have big worries
and bitter tea,
Seen some long days
since you left me.
But lilies, your lilies,
are very important
to me,
Don't you know
that I'm your legacy?
So those arriving still see
Koi and lilies in the water,
And you, through me,
Your daughter.
Your legacy is safe
with me.