nerdy, scholarly, even crotchety, but
strong transmitter of the Inner
Light regardless – he stepped up
to studying peace from the
vantage point of a librarian,
but as professor and Friend,
his testament’s influence reaches far
beyond those hallowed doors – no
whispering in the stacks allowed
for this man of conscience

as Walking Bee, I visited
her cottage weakly, hovered ’round
her oven, devoured the flavored
petals of her fading flowers –
she gained her wings first,
flew away from Bubble Village,
realized in her studio visions
with vivid paintbrush, seashore palette,
and trumpet flower’s flourish – me,
I languish here without her

poor guy, he was really
super cute and nice and
all, but what made him
famous as a freshman in
high school biology was that
Mr. Plomitallo picked on him
to answer this question and
I forget the question but
the answer was “menstruation”
and he had to say it

lives nearly parallel in some
respects – same college, just two
years apart, same job, same
department, same corporation, our houses
merely blocks apart – but parallel
lives don’t intersect – ok, try
this, Venn diagram with the
major portion of each circle
separate, whether for reasons of
race, religion, or just inclination

tall, pale, elegant, and graceful
in her many costumes – ROTC
uniform, ball gown, bathing suit,
tennis outfit, a pharmacy student’s
scrubs – there are pills to take
for illness, and product for
anything that ails you, everything
soluble with water, diligence,
and better chemistry – from her
young (ad)vantage point at least

a mensch – or not? beloved
by many, while others congregated
elsewhere after he arrived, dapper
shepherd of this little urban
flock, cerebral, liberal, a bit
salacious – or am I oversensitive?
it’s just that conversations always
zeroed in on dating (he
could fix me up) does
this seem pastoral – or not?

I belong where? I belong
to whom? what is my
name? what is my first
name? what is my last
name? who is my family?
who are my parents? my
sisters? my brothers? who is
my husband? what is my
work? where is my country?
how then can I love?