Category: poetry

postpartum

On By ©️K.T. 2025In Alchemy, Aurum, Birth, Crone, Cronehood, Feminine, grandmother, kin, maiden, maternity, Mother, Poem, poetry, Sacred Feminine, symbiosity, womb, women, WomenfolkLeave a comment

fetal cells
remain in a mother’s body for decades
they know this
particularly
because of mothers of sons

son cells discovered
co-mingling in their mother’s
blood
and marrow
long after their first breaths of atmosphere
and for far too many mothers,
long after their child’s last

we mothers, in-secret chimeras
29, 50,
years after birthing /

no wonder

he breathes
1,191.582 miles away from me

as the crow flies,
as the monarch flies
as the hummingbird flies

and still, i feel the cells of gold i alchemized

for 42 strange, wondrous weeks

in my crone bones

postpartum is forever

Continue reading “postpartum” →

goldilocks’ zone

On By ©️K.T. 2025In climate, Climate Chaos, Climate Collapse, Earth hospice, Earthling, earthlings, Hospice, Near Term Human Extinction, Poem, poetry, Sixth Mass Extinction, symbiosityLeave a comment

the widespread muck,
usual to late March
now spoils the January, the December, February too

there are no more
seasons,

only drownt
or parched

what use
is axial tilt, solar distance
while these men
lock-up the thermostat and disarrange the elements

Continue reading “goldilocks’ zone” →

preparation

On By ©️K.T. 2025In agraria, bucolia, climate, Climate Collapse, Crone, crone chronicles, Crone Consciousness, Cronehood, dirt road chronicles, Earthling, ecocide, Genocide, goodbye city life, inner city, outer rural, Palestine, planetary hospice, Poem, poetry, ruralia, Winter, WomenfolkLeave a comment

she counted propane canisters
for her two Mr. Heaters
put batteries in her camp lanterns — circa 2004,
set out votive and prayer candles, matches and lighters,

worked past midnight
to empty, wash, fill or refill glass wine bottles with water for drinking, teeth-brushing, cooking

that is the advantage of the white wine screw cap bottles
p.s. VOGA pinot grigio is unrivaled for this use
she’s saved them over the months for this sole purpose, those Italians sure know what they’re doin’

she rotated supply: filled buckets with the previously stored precious water,
placed them in the bathtubs for toilet flushing
and in Igloo jugs
for hand and face washing
& dishwashing

(and, hoe baths too)

this beautiful welled water, pumped from 75 feet below the surface, 10 feet of clay and 65 of sand, her friend once researched county well drill permit records for her.

she made a pot of marinara, boiled 3 lbs of potatoes, planned for pancakes, printed out dutch oven bread recipes,

she set out the dog’s paw wax and his wardrobe of coats,

she refreshed her vintage wool blankets on low heat with honeysuckle-infused dryer sheets,

found her favorite j. crew wool men’s sweater, moss green — circa 1999, which reminded: she best learn some knitting – for repairs and darning, at the very least, the cuff seam is unraveling, but, my god, it’s so warm.

she filled all the bird feeders before sunset, although she’s spotted deer at them at twilight and midnight — using their tongues to excavate the seed,

she set the snow shovel and outdoor broom just outside, beside her back door

all this,

just in case

freezing lines and tree limbs knock the power out

and Lake Effect drifts become temporarily insurmountable

she’s always prepared, she always knows what to do

or can generally figure it out, figure a way out of it – and, without GPS

except:

what to do in

a genocide and in climate collapse.

Continue reading “preparation” →

“wolf”

On By ©️K.T. 2025In Anubis, Death, Justice, Lajuana Lampkins, Life and Death, Poem, poetry, the old godsLeave a comment
for the One and Only

Lajuana Lampkins

March 29, 1957 ~ February 26, 2025

May Allah grant her Jannah

& for All the Mothers whose children were — and will be murdered by the State — domestic or foreign, & for All Mothers who have lost — and will lose their children to the brutal and carceral machinations and institutions of the State
Weighing of the Heart | Book of the Dead
Thoth and Anubis weigh the candidate’s heart against the feather of Ma’at while Ammit hungrily awaits the judgment.
Inside Ancient Egypt exhibit,
Field Museum of Natural History,
Chicago, January 2013
photo: by author

she cries “wolf!” so often
that it becomes tempting to ignore

yet the wolves were always nearby,
stalking, steady clawing at her door

there’s a Wolf curled up at her feet now,
but he’s not of the pack of violent beasts,

you see, this Wolf is not a hungried one,
and He does not want her for his feast

Anubis is the Wolf’s name,
and He waits to gently weigh her Heart

on the Golden Scales of Justice
He’s balanced with a badge and service glock,

these reparations just for her, and Mothers like her,
in lieu of the Feather of Ma’at

Continue reading ““wolf”” →

the year of unmagical thinking

On By ©️K.T. 2025In december, Didion, end-of-year, Joan Didion, Lament, Lamentations, new year poem, new year’s eve, Poem, poetry, threshold, TonantzinLeave a comment

all delusions were set out in the meadow for scavengers
along with all the seeds she didn’t start this year
she had prophetic dreams
she barely touched her tarot
he now lives entirely outside of her heart
she showed up first, but only as her second, or third choice
then, she died days later, in hospice, at 56,
and presumably,
knows now that she couldn’t take it with her, Egyptian-Pharaonic style
blood and cultural descendants of holocaust survivors are revelling in an ongoing genocide
and someone finally inspected his spots,
but leopards cannot change theirs
some of us, are just about ‘dat’ life, she re-learned
others, lie to themselves about their innocence,
or responsibility, including me,
we are all stereotypes
radical self-promotion and self-reinforcing mediocrity are apparently the new power couple,
she didn’t make it to the Remedios Varo show at the Art Institute of Chicago – with, and on, purpose.
her bones began to ache during sunlight, too, so that’s new,
”People incapable of guilt usually do have a good time.”

Continue reading “the year of unmagical thinking” →

definition | author | proof of life:

On By ©️K.T. 2025In author, Crone, Cronehood, Earthling, Gnostic, Her, ki, kin, kinship, liminal, liminality, limineen, maiden, Mother, Motherhood, Pneumatic, Poem, poet, poetry, self portaiture, witch, WomenfolkLeave a comment

foremost Earthling, crone,
and mother to a golden boy;
nightly traveler into liminality;
mostly obeisant
to intuition & premonition;
poet, writer;
heart-sleeved,
bleeding heart pessimist;
devoted friend of crows (at last),
meadow-restorer/tender,
& long-lost sister to snakes, bats and coyotes,
deer & bluebird whisperer,
seed saver, food grower,
an admirer and propagator
of lilacs, hydrangeas,
sycamores, mulberries, pawpaws and oaks;
dna-tested kin to goldenrod, milkweed,
bison, cottonwoods, thistle and monarchs;
wader into ephemeral and glacial
lakes and deep snow;
Moon’s luminous, loyal daughter
& Sun’s prodigal, ever-questioning shadow
equally;
devout, ecstatic
desert, forest and river worshipper;
reverent of and humbly deferent to
bear, wolf, moose, elk & bighorn sheep and hummingbirds;
a mountain, canyon, valley,
prairie and beach walker;


i swam and swam and swam my way alive.

Continue reading “definition | author | proof of life:” →

deadly viper assassination squad / kill von Til

On By ©️K.T. 2025In Ouroboros, Poem, poetry, Trickster, Vengeance, XenophobiaLeave a comment

i read that an African green mamba
escaped its Dutch trafficker, a collector and captor of living beings

i am someone who never recovered
from reading Kingsolver’s “Poisonwood Bible”
i am someone who never recovered
from experiencing Alex Haley’s “Roots” on American television for eight consecutive nights

i am someone who imagines
an exquisite vengeance
for the fugitive, deadly snake
upon the low people of the Netherlands,
the hubris of those who would build higher and higher dams to contain the rising, wild seas
with transatlantic shipping wealth, every last cent: descendant of African blood money
while they continue in unironic chant for their tulipped nation’s and bland continent’s homogeneity:

make Europe great again!

while, i am someone who quietly incants:

may the viper in silent slither
at their coming fest of Sinterklaas
strike them in the street
as they joyfully parade
with their black-faced Zwarte Piet

the deception of the Sun

On By ©️K.T. 2025In Death, demiurge, earthlings, Existence, Genocide, grief, Poem, poetry, Samsara, Sun, Sunrise, Sunset, Tree of Knowledge, WarLeave a comment

the Sun just keeps on shining
setting and rising,
setting and rising
while
the People
of Palestine,
of Congo,
are genocided

the deception of the “life-bringer” Sun on yet another day of genocides

did you know that Yaldaboath only feigned dismay
when Cain blew his own brother away;
then He later told Abraham to kill his own son,
just to prove that he was obsessed enough

you know, that dear Jesus
in heaven comfortably stayed
all throughout the Trans-Atlantic slave trade,

and that Allah had no problems with the Caliphates
and The One True God was all about The Crusades

and that Creator ignored the prayers and the pleas
of First Peoples slaughtered by steel,
starvation, and European disease

and that Yahweh was pre-occupied during the Holocaust
busy planning and inciting the Palestinians’ cruel loss

from Auschwitz to Al-Shifa,
He so craves burnt offerings
His global portfolio — built solely on dead things

He created the Sun to grow His tainted Seeds
Horror by daylight,
His Grand Design? — what a fucking death scheme

Auden once begged to “dismantle the Sun”
for the loss of his own be-loved one

but Hark!

for the loss of our collective soul,
dismantlement’s just not good enough,
leave Him no parts, no plans
to re-build and restart!

Extinguish His goddamn Sun!

and forever, and evermore,

Let there only be Dark!

Continue reading “the deception of the Sun” →

kill the coyote v.2

On By ©️K.T. 2025In Alpenglow, Lament, land, Poem, poetryLeave a comment

i won’t warn you with
my voice, anymore

tell me,
how do you calmly
tell someone to
“look, brake, stop, now, please”
in a nano-second?
calm but with desperate urgency?
without amplification?
without proselytizing?
without the infusion or projection of panic?
without the prescience of the future unfolding in the very moment?

tell me,
i’ll wait,

while you kill the coyote

crossing the road

that crosses razed forest

clear-cut for runs and Aprés-ski,
for lumber to build the 3-day-stay mansions – which they unironically call, “cabins,”
a settlement of a pop-up-Bavaria™️ for them in the valley of the mountains of

the Sangre de Cristo?

the lifeblood of the Red Willows.

the very same road

to access the trailhead
to the pristine glacial lake
with views of Taos Peak

a profanity of epithets

“williams” lake

“wheeler” peak

where you go, unironically,

to briefly escape

this World,
the violence of this World,
your World

the one constructed in your image,

and in your favor

Continue reading “kill the coyote v.2” →

free palestine: “SHALOM not [A] napalm BOMB”

On By ©️K.T. 2025In anti-zionism, Chicago, Free Palestine, Joffre Stewart, outsider poet, Poem, poet, poetry, Politics, street poetLeave a comment

“SHALOM not [A] napalm BOMB”

– Joffre Stewart

Joffre Stewart,
Chicago
poet, outsider artist,
street philosopher & pamphleteer,
anti-political theorist & activist,
anti-zionist,
war-and-tax-resister
&
pacifist-anarchist
June 1994

“No state exists by right, they come to exist by force, and then justify their existence after the fact.”

- Geo Maher
Continue reading “free palestine: “SHALOM not [A] napalm BOMB”” →

the visitation

On By ©️K.T. 2025In dream poetry, dreamt poetry, Gnosis, liminal, liminality, metaphysical, Poem, poetry, threshold, transfigurationLeave a comment

absolutely familiar
though this composite
is arresting and near unrecognizable

appearing as face and form of a human woman
who never endured, nor knew of, disease

wearing pleromic countenance
without tongue for human words, without neurons for human thoughts

yet fluently exuding
all the truth
that is

now hers

Continue reading “the visitation” →

“Forever You”: an ode to friendship at the horizon of loss

On By ©️K.T. 2025In childhood, Death, friends, friendship, Gold, illuminated text, Lajuana Lampkins, Life and Death, Ode, Poem, poet, poetry, Roses, Terminal IllnessLeave a comment
gifted handwritten poem art from one of my newest and dearest friends, Lajuana Lampkins
as my longest and dearest friend,
Jill Johnston Hayes
neared death

an illuminated scroll
drawn on gold metallic cardstock
with pen, marker, paint and crayon
Lajuana Lampkins
September 2023
FOREVER “you”… 
My childhood friend, and through the years, we've grown together, shared joy and tears, were bonded like the day and night, our hearts forever will unite, you've given me, a chance to be, a friend forever, most definitely, I am forever, there is no end, you'll always be, my most best friend, each day and night, I keep you near, always know, that I am here. Thank you for, the love you've shared, nothing else can compare, So much we've grown, and been all through, forever is forever you. 

Poem by Lajuana Lampkins
©️copyright Lajuana Lampkins
September 2023
Continue reading ““Forever You”: an ode to friendship at the horizon of loss” →