Quantcast
December 2025
Elevator
“Elevator” - 12/29/2025
 
Being stuck in a lift with my Dad with a charged phone wasn’t so bad
I hit the emergency button a couple times and
When it was clear no one was coming he said
“Call the fire department honey” so I did and immediately someone
Who sounded very solid said they were on their way
 
In some ways I think it was an apt moment
To test the level of stress we collectively feel
My Dad and me and also a reminder of why we get along so well
 
I’ve mentioned I was logical; he told me he’d been trapped
In an elevator years ago when his office was in
The Empire State Building he was already planning how
“They’ll probably have us crawl up through the shaft on a ladder my guess
Is it’ll be a couple hours so we’ll miss the movie
But it’s good there are only a few floors and that thing you use online
Instagram you could post we’re stuck in here if needed, right?”
 
These are the genes - half of them - I’ve thankfully inherited
He never panicked and all in all it was actually kind of fun
“Wow those firemen were so handsome! Why are they
Always that way? I wonder if they have a calendar well
Good to know you’re in such a safe town sweetheart!”
And off we went, to enjoy some quick lunch
A shared bowl of quinoa and veggies before
Catching the 1pm showing of a heartwarming film
About unconditional love and music and never giving up
—-
I imagine if we’d gotten stuck in a skyscraper
In NYC things would’ve gone much differently
I can empathize with the nightmarish claustrophobia
You’ve described when you lived in a high rise and yours malfunctioned
I love small spaces I can think better in them
(hotels, control rooms, covers over my eyes)
Yet I always want a lot of space to spread out
What we want and what we need are often at odds
In this awareness I find endless opportunity to learn
What I’m learning about you is you’re real as —-
You ask a lot of great questions you’re curious by nature
I’ve got a lot of patience I’ve been told it’s one
Of my best virtues but mostly I’m just an artsy grrl who
Doesn’t like to choose or be told what I have to do
Freedom is my favorite flower freedom and her sister laughter
Reasons to live to find joy life is hard let’s empower
Each other’s dreams somehow that’s my takeaway
How can I help without taking too much time away from
The realization time is illusory if what’s meant to be shared
Is going to be given and received eventually anyway
Just know in some small way I’m happy to be in the know
To see what’s bountiful in your incandescence
Glowing in the direction you’re determined
I’m persistent yes but to be able to just relax
Understand and accept hold a candle in a dark corridor
For something more than just “success” to be able
To be seen as something more than just a backstory’s essence
A human being with all Fate’s flaws open to newness in spite of damage
This is to me the definition of living so no
I’m afraid I can’t quite categorize or label my aspiration
To be someone for whom someone else I admire stirs a sensation
A Broadway soul-show of surprise scintillation
Even if it just makes you smile to know I am
In the know and whatever the case whatsoever ensues
I am aware of your rarity and if you ever get trapped in an elevator
Of any kind (as long as you’re kind) “I’ve got you” just señálame
Bellflower
“Bellflower” - 12/23/2025
 
It’s been a long time since I wrote a poem
About someone captivating enough to make me
Miss what I haven’t even had yet the language
Of my youth the definition of a muse
I lie awake thinking about possibility with the
Intensity I normally reserve for voracity
Hunger has perpetually gotten the best of me
Since lockdown an appetite so strong
I’ve been in no danger of disappearing instead
I’ve looked in the mirror and hardly recognized
Just how present I’ve learned to be each breath
 
A masterclass wrestling with living miraculously
We get better to live we get better to become
More fully ourselves we get better knowing
Others have not been so blessed I found her
Correspondence in my dm’s scrolling back
Happenstance something made me - nearing
The end of such an up and down year travels
Galore beautiful adventures friendships forged
And then there she is her sweet notes of
Understanding of curiosity questions wondering
How was I doing we had the same diagnosis she
 
In another country across the pond armed with
Her beautiful family’s love me surrounded by
Doubt but doing all the things healing myself
With poisons offset by equal amounts of proof
So now when I consider whether or not
Hope is the thing with feathers time spoofs
So loudly I wonder am I soul-traveling bells
In my heart alarms in my blood disarming regret
Before I’ve even looked in your eyes white flags
Blue lobelias lining this path as if we’ve always
Been living perennial parallel lives
Kriah
"Kriah" - 12/14/2025 
 
So much violence so much lamenting
Tearing of proverbial cloth the words we always hear
When we face loss after loss terrorism
Suspects being arrested kudos to the police
 
Undoubtedly heroes and even a vigilante saving lives
There'll be TV-movies, probably Americana loves
To reenact tragedy "we have to redouble our efforts to do
What the government will not" we need to have the experts
 
On our most trusted television programs analysts offering
Perspectives on what has no reasonable explanation
I had a cab driver ask me only yesterday if I believed in evil
It was a question that should've garnered some hesitation
 
Considering the kind of person I try to be extremism always
Must have a motivation so we can learn and try to do better
Global targeting global hate what is different about this
Is they're saying there were "foreign interlopers" pulling strings
 
1600 incidents in Australia this year alone hate crimes against
A shattered shatz community who's behind it was it a
Coordinated attack 40 wounded souls just one response
Is appropriate on this, the first night of Hanukkah - a celebration
 
Of light, and the recommendation from law enforcement seems
To prevail: cancel gatherings, don't be in crowds, be careful or
Make sure you have high security in place, armed guards, know
The path to exit in emergency coordinate coordinate schematics
 
Entry/exits, venues must have, in light of all of this yes:
Extra protective presence the culture is going to have to change
My cousins taking their finals I wonder head-shaking how I will
In mere moments, translate "Happy Hannukkahs" into apologies
---
And I think about Brown and the students, the learning that will
Be on perpetual pause as the lessons we can never seem to
Master boil underneath each anxious parent's desperate urge
To know, and to be sure, their child is not among the collective
 
Loss after loss, woe upon woe what can we do or think or know
Takeaways from tragedies are not luxuries the directly affected
Can muster anytime soon but let tonight's candle-lighting
Be a healing salve of some kind angels gather, violas bloom