Harvest

When I say we are portable

I am not speaking of legs or wheels or wings

or even strong arms

but anthems packed tight and sealed on lips

that sail through blood of all

tints and tender moments

Reading up on history’s rebellions

did not teach me to avoid resistance

I have already started growing up

and what is that but standing up to my childhood

(so if you want an anthem

just look at our debris

you’ll see it written there –

a wake spells out a movement and

a movement fathoms portability)

This is for the new days

the new minutes

for the people who want to show,

who are in the habit of calling others to

come, look,

before enjoying that first private inspection

This is for the little girl

whose Appalachian roof I repaired

I couldn’t save her teeth from growing

out of her gums black and already rotting

nor could I refuse her her pride

although falsely based

in the few times she was allowed

a smoke of her neighbor’s cigarette

This is for the people in charge

who warned to stay away

from the newborn pups

afraid they might have fleas

This is for those

who grow out of the things

I ask of them

who take pieces of my chrysalis

to wear as their own when

I wasn’t done with them

even though I’d like to blame my deformities

on the parts of them that grew right

because of me

This is for me, an understanding

as I untangle

sad for a knowledge

but not sad the knowledge knew me

This is for my fellows

who also like to marvel

This is for portability

a learning of what stays put

of what we can carry

of motion even if devoid of direction.

            (watch my anthem grow with my debris)

The times say I am what I share –

shame, I have always shared myself

best with negative space

and in long seconds

I have felt taut

- a blank canvas

chasing after Jackson Pollock

desperate for the paint splatters

they teach that you need but

my voice showed some new sprouts today and

it is almost time for harvest, so

armed with my father’s thoughts

and my mother’s actions,

my words will begin the pounding

artery allies, ventricle friends

I would like to be a smart consumer

of beautiful horizons

I would like to live up to my portability.