outside General today, a fight broke out
whack! hit on the head, one to the other
"you mother-fucker you, listen up!"
and unthinkingly, i get between them
20 year old girl--you know society's rules [it's foolish to intervene]
"hey man, calm down, peace out"

he rounds on me, and now calls me the mother-fucker
i step back, whisper prayers in tongues
"why don't you just call the cops then?" he screams
logic doesn't bode well with the violently drunk
[so should some avoid liquor altogether?]

a cop car drives by and he runs into the busy street, flagging it angrily
"i feel out of my body," christie says beside me

at the end, the cop approaches me
"Would you like me to lock him up, ma'am? Did you feel threatened? Should I take him to jail for the night?"
"No, no, I didn't feel threatened; he just cursed at me."

The cop didn't even ask what happened, completely ignored the hit man's side of the story
[being homeless and drunk and Spanish-speaking doesn't get you far, even when you're mildly assaulted]

"Reinas, reinas," the man says to us: Queens
we smile awkwardly, i wish he wouldn't call us that

and my privilege is power [the power to decide outcomes?!]
and, in my feminity, my privilege [white and a student and employed by the hospital]--
my privilege is protection.

jasmine season

on unknown park trails, a welcome walk
& that scent--I know that scent!

steamy & rain-drenched pink blossoms
i walk, staggering, breathing them in
such tropical flowers this far north??
the most intoxicating smell i know!

& i hear those words that whisper,
"you will come like the rain"

i will drink deeply of this love.

"she put on happiness like a loose dress, over pain i'll never know"

knock on the wall of the room
ritually recognizing ownership of your half-space
your genitals are showing, exposed,
i gesture, awkwardly, but you miss it.

if i just look you in the eye, sir, if i ignore the accidental exposure
does that somehow offer you more dignity,
you and your 53 veteran years, rotting in this hospital room?

you are in too much pain to talk today,
i understand, laugh lightly
feeling too young to communicate that i do endeavor--
oh i endeavor!
to be with you in your ancient pain

J & A

there's something about coffee on the roof in the morning
about laughter and back rubs well into the night
about conversations while sunbathing in urban parks
& drinking wine straight out of the bottle

there's something about best friend-sisters,
& oh, i'm so grateful(l) for their visit to my city.

and so we broke bread, pouring the crimson over it
wine falling in drops off the cliff on which we stood
the sea below, we faced the western gate
golden & famous, as it was

& we remembered You
you who came to dwell among us
to suffer and to dance and to drink with us
you who became one of us

oh, my most dear brothers, my most dear sisters
may we recognize the holy One!

late at night i hear the trees singing with the dead

march rainy flakes & steam on the mountains
patchy sunlight, sodden greyish-brown ground, leftover snow

& oh the stars
in the city i had forgotten their proximity!

coyotes, nearly 1 a.m., howling through the windowpanes
everything is bigger here, louder in a different way

and though it comes with harsh words,
though it brings secret & quiet tears
the north is full; it cradles me.

after work i found hippie hill,
stumbled across it really

a cute boy invited me to play frisbee
but i shyly shook my head, smiled

so many men--the remnant anarchists, camping and smoking--
not Thoreau and Emma Goldman but dirty self-styled gypsies
drum circles and backpacks and alcohol

a fight nearly broke out
shouting & curses exchanged
culminating in a surrendered wallet
by a man in a tie-dyed shirt
and i sang in tongues i do not know
i sang to the beat of the drum
to the wheels of the bike
to the clean red-haired boy of 10 (why are you here, son? is that your dad?)
to the guy asking me for a cigarette with sleazy gestures and calls

oh ancient days--oh lengthening evenings!
i sit cross-legged in the light; i observe
eucalyptus light.