2010-03-08 - 8:33 a.m.
Two Poems Inspired by Alice Walker's
"My Friend Arrived" and
"The New Man"
"I arrived"
I arrived your acquaintance, now your friend And he, your lover graciously took me and my whole brood in Asking "Can I go for albuterol So that you can breath freely here?" He didn't say that if it came between the cats and me that I would have to go Once again I was moved to tears As I stood in that kitchen this time with a hand me down nebulizer Of a beloved, now deceased as could breath easy suddenly aware that the panic of fear did make me so used to holding my breath and not acknowledge when my lungs were gasping for air Realizing that it was so rare for one to not say "It's in your head" There is something wrong with you Overhead conversations of "I think asthma is an excuse"
This can not be the new man for me Though he is the old one of the now beloved friend who tells me otherwise She is mistaken for I am not one for whom such a friendship could ever be forsaken When I read the words of Alice I see my friend and not the man And I see how she loves all those in need and the beauty of this sister No matter How Crazy How she has loved me Albeit not with complete altruism As her selfish love demands that she be needed Demands that she is helping someone else Lest she think only of herself It validates and charges her batteries which otherwise run weak When she declares "Yes you can sleep on my floor" to a homeless friend Yet sets the boundary that if he should wash his laundry in her kitchen sink
without asking He will no longer be welcomed
"The Cat"
If you had thought That setting the cat free so you could love me without help of an inhaler
As if being unseen the dander that dusted over all would be
less real
And smoke curling from the fire No matter how romantic emanating from the wood burning stove would somehow magically lose its ability to cause caustic choking and constriction of my lungs
You were mistaken
The act of release was one of a stronghold that did not make me respect
or trust you more
as in the long run I left your house realizing you could discard me as easily as
that nameless Bengal a pet to whom you were never really
attached
� �
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