Fire in winter

To be warm

is to be safe

But warmth is not a right-

warmth is a privilege

If you are cold

freezing and dying

you do not have a right

to build a fire

You have the right

to remain silent

But when the storm comes

and buries you deep,

and you have no wealth

then you will seep

And you will freeze

forever exercising your right

of remaining silence

until your cold bitter end

and the fire runs out-

and you end.

Penny

Penny,

you knew fighting

this losing battle

would be no stroll

on a calm beach.

And daughter,

now you know

that to challenge Goliath

when you are David,

when you have nothing,

…feel like nothing…

and you have no wealth,

no allies, no power-

that it’s like a penny

challenging a million bucks!

But you know, too

when everything is gone

…everything is lost…

and you lose…

and you’re lost…

like I lost…

…you still win.

Because you are one-

one in a million,

my Penny…

juno

I am my mother’s cheers

I embody my father’s fears

I go further and further past

the painful sears

that ended mom and dad,

and ended their careers.

I am a guardian

of my mother’s ghost

I am the protector

of my father’s post

I am the gatekeeper

of their coast

I am the master

of my mom and dad’s fates

I am the master

of all my fates

I am their warrior

their savior; their angel.

I am Juno.

I am

and I am,

their love-

reborn.