This is a way to start a year in which our nation is in deep freeze

shade-prefaced letter begging and bump accusations,
post-facial portraiture and black citational business

Let your cup runneth over
Over me
And with the crashing of waves
My heart to yours
With the song of the wind

I pledge allegiance to the
blood soaked flag of the
Dys-membered
Dys-United
Members Only
states of Un-America

Hard now
to flex my cheeks,
show my teeth
and smile.

She’s 9 months old. 
We’re taking a bath.
6 months ago I cupped her body
And her smile whooshed
In bathwater waves
Now she’s in a rush
To stand and doesn’t like
Getting her hair wet.

Don't scream
Be serene

Watching Carl Sagan Cosmos
With Maitri
Trying to stand on my thighs
we're rocking back and forth
In the rocking chair
Suddenly I'm afraid

The winds are sweeping across America.
The flags are shredding on their poles.
The dogs are barking at the sunsets,
and the coals are burning down.

In a cold time, in a place accustomed more
To scorching heat than cold, to the flatness of plain,
Than hills: A child was born in a cave to save the world.
And it stormed, as only winter desert storms can.

Your brilliant, hot, heroic kind of love.

I have enough on my hands,
married to just one man,
and now Mariposa
is marrying her homeland.

Faith (the substance of things Hoped for)
should flow like a river
anticipating a breeze
 

group d'etat:
movement without moment — is not
revolution — it's just
noise

I can’t write on medication
stretch out on planks
keep them I punch it

I used to be the executive assistant to the vice president of Chanel
I worked my way up from Estée Lauder