learning a language
tongue clicks purrs jaws grinding stretching holding up one leg a sharp call
and a low warble
moment by moment
we learn how to speak
parrot
or lover
or child
each time banking on
the patience and goodwill
of our innocent instructor
we learn a new way
to say what we need
La Cariñosa
una persona muy cariñosa
wraps you into their warm presence
¡No te preoccupes! they say
waving away your apologies and shortcomings
pulling out the chair
when you shift from foot to foot
pouring the water for tea
while you search for a word of explanation
they read your face with a concerned smile
patting the azure pillow behind you
straightening the dahlia on the table
thinking quietly about
what you might need next
settling on a way that later
you’ll both be able to laugh about it all
and you know
when you cross that threshold next
you will feel the wound of a cut cord
the unspoken lack of their tenderness
like turning away from a crackling fire
and walking out into the night
inanimate love
our children sometimes
shove and kick each other
speak harshly and tease
they aren’t always gentle
with a brother’s heart
but you would never guess these things
if you saw the tender way
they work together to buckle in
each inanimate stuffed animal
in the car
both openly concerned about
each little body’s
safety, comfort, and view,
their hearts utterly in tune
when they care for these
beings without blood
moving toward kind
Be kind whenever possible.
It is always possible.
– His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama
sometimes bitterness wells up
spills over
burns a bystander
with caustic words
the acid bubbles up
before you can neutralize it
with a deep inhale
or I/thou thought
leaves you both raw human flawed
so far from bodhisattvahood
compassion still something
you have to summon by force of will
no ocean flowing from you
just the hot sand and jumbled rocks
of a shadeless dry reservoir
a remnant of deeper days
sometimes I feel like the weevil on the headlamp
doing endless laps
thinking she’s getting closer to the light
barely moving
but when one boys says
I just want loving kindness
and another boy says
I will do better
and then they both say huggie!
snuggling chins into crooks of necks
I think maybe it’s possible
we’re moving toward kind
