Following behind my father
in the deep snow of Prescott, AZ.
Put your feet in my footprints, he said,
And he made them deep and clear.
-M.
A Kind Thing My Father Did Once (poetry)
Tag: Poetry Community
Barrel Rings (poetry)
“Flow down and down in always widening rings of being.”
-Rumi
I imagine us bound together by barrel
Rings. Maybe we could go into the lovers’
Protection program under the name
Cooper and you could kiss my clever
Mouth with your clever mouth almost
Out in the open. Only the gods and the
Government would know we were never
Supposed to end up barrel bound to
Each other.
Your people think you married down.
Fuck your people. I married you and
You’re a criminal—with lots of money so…
Is that up or sideways? With you
It’s almost always sideways.
A barrel on its side rolls wobbly.
-M. Ashley
Gratitude My Love Song (poetry)
Gratitude, my love song to you
Love is patient and many-faced
Teaching me miraculous compassion
You sing it back to me
Love is patient and many-faced
May I, un-healed, go with you healing
You sing it back to me
May I, restless, with you bring rest
May I, un-healed, go with you healing
Safe and still my tempest past
May I, restless, with you bring rest
Just and safe my Now
Safe and still my tempest past
Teaching me miraculous compassion
Just and safe my Now
Gratitude, my love song to you.
-M. Ashley
God at the Cake Case (poetry)
We didn’t see—we sensed him
Black hair, caramel skin, dressed in blue and black
Lovely voice, petite man, graceful hand
Magically he opened the cake case from the front
Black hair, caramel skin, dressed in blue and black
Delighted ladies sighed in surprise
Magically he opened the cake case from the front
He did it for the delighted ladies’ sighs
Delighted ladies sighed in surprise
He said he’d die if he had to…
He did it for the delighted ladies’ sighs
…Go in from the back every time
-M. Ashley
Conception (poetry)
Purple kangaroo wine, cheap and bitter
Gratitude shouts louder than a flash flood warning
Climax withheld for one notch less drunk than this
Red solo cup abandoned on the windowsill
Gratitude shouts louder than a flash flood warning
Half full of wine–collecting rain
Red solo cup abandoned on the windowsill
Pajamas and flip flops in a tangle by the bed
Half full of wine–collecting rain
God’s body happens where lightning strikes something
Pajamas and flip flops in a tangle by the bed
Only one window opens wide enough
-M. Ashley
I Hear and I Obey (poetry)
Dear God, I keep
One ear open
And try to obey
At least half the time.
-M. Ashley
Hopeless. Interested. (poetry)
“Certainly I was interested. I had to be, for I was hopeless.”
-“Bill’s Story,” Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 10
Abandon all hope, ye who enter
Here I lay all enamored of Interest
Who sexily swayed into the stuffy
Room where I divorced Hope—finally
Mouth all full of sugar
Heart all full of hate
Interest the mistress—
The new
Promised woman
Show me
What you’ve got.
-M. Ashley
A Dictionary of Angels
Is in the boring section where
The bright kids go
Bright and boring is the book
They whisper over, holy thing
Bright, boring, book bound
Just like the angels they read about.
Not that I have a hangup about
Angels. If only their books were
Dark and dusty, we might know
Each other better. But I
Bet there are boring dark spots
Too. I have to bet because who
Would know? The spots are dark
Dark as a yawn
Dark as the inside of a
Closed fist. Dark as a book
Bound mind. Dark as a priest’s dark closet
Not that I have hangups about
Priests either. Or hangups
About what they hang up in
Their dark, yawning closets
Skeletons on pink padded
Hangers, white ribboned
Rose and garlic sachets
Tied around their necks?
-M. Ashley
Learning to Live Without (poetry)
I wonder whether the casket lid is
A death trap like those recalled
Drop side cribs that snatched
Babies into the jaws of death
But if it is a death trap, it isn’t
Inappropriate for this funeral
Where my little Christ-love lay
Blessed barely an age
Before being laid to rest with
All this ceremony. All this
Ceremony. I’m going to miss this
And funeral/baptism cake and potatoes
Going off into the worldly world
Christ-love less. Loving without
Magic underwear and ordinations
And special water and oil
For anointing and dove
Down comforters and man—
That casket crib was chock full of stuff
I think I can live without.
I think
I think I can live without.
-M. Ashley
At Least I’m Not “That Snob” (poetry)
But I accidentally listened to French House music
And kept listening
On purpose
So who am I to say?
What I can say is:
At least I’m not too good for
Sundowners discount ghetto cafeteria and
The bowl of chopped iceberg they serve
Drowning in ranch–mmmm…
Crunchy ranch…
Or the tiny white bread croutons either.
-M. Ashley
M. N. Ashley 