fresh water wash me clean

    "Rain Dance" photo used with permission & with gratitude to the artist, Lynne Raspet.

i don't live 

in a neighborhood 

Ms.

he says      insisting

nothing happens 

on my street   

this thick   city

boy 

uniformed

scrubbed

polished

& sent to school

his black hair      stiffened

stands at attention

his head     is hurting 

(i am sure)

from too much

sitting still

     ~

i lean into

his round face 

willing words 

his imagination

—a phantom—

     ~

how many       of you 

have ever made 

mud pies

between     your toes   

a few hands       rise

—confessing 

actual play 

outside

go home      i say
turn on the hose 

make mud

they giggle

     ~

my toes          flex 

stretch their necks  

i am standing 

knee deep 

in rain water

this sky     wiping its eyes 

dim thunder     rumbling   

we     have all 

come outside 

waving—squawking birds 

converging     on a makeshift lake 

water      running to greet us

we wade in

     ~

a few fat drops

hit     shower us wet

—cold    clothes 

cling        barefoot toes

stomp 

splash

 sing in the street

—rain dance

 —glee club 

goose bumps  

     ~ 

i squat      squish mud 

between my toes 

shovel up a clump 

—oozing earth

fling it 

at the first    (unsuspecting)

one of us

a burst of laughter

—splat—

a flinched face

—splat—

an arched back

i got you!   

     ~

we are merciless 

     warriors      taking aim 

duck 

dive 

slip 

slide

run 

from each other 

like we     might really

die

in seconds 

      an hour passes 

      ~  

my breath 

comes fast

i am full 

of fun 

& covered 

in baking clay

     ~

lying down 

on long      green 

grass      in the gutter 

bent           under

this sudden stream

    fresh water 

—wash       me clean

Making Room for George: A Love Story (Balboa Press, 2013)

George

My first novel, based on real events, is a story of transformation.

Bet Kinders’ father-in-law, George, is in trouble. His girlfriend is stealing from him and, it turns out, she has a pimp who’s threatening his life. While something has to be done, George moving in with Bet and her husband, Steve could prove to be more than the family can bear.

Making Room for George explores how relationships shift in one woman’s life under the influence of sexual ambiguity, marriage and motherhood, parent-child role reversal, and redefining partnership. The book examines the roles played by upbringing, cultural pressure, addiction and self-denial in these relationships.

Readers will be moved as Bet confronts her own demons, finds the way to self-acceptance, and learns the meaning of true love.

This is a love story, tender and bittersweet. Readers, especially women, will rally behind, and be inspired by the heroine’s journey out of denial and into self-actualization.


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