Mission Peak

A childhood memory

Shroud of Mission Peak A distant stalwart seen across my childhood city Reminds me I am home //My home// My school home Third grade, Geography lesson Curved hills/jagged sharp mountains Mrs. Hall what about Mission Peak Another lesson: Earthquakes //Another lesson Earthquakes// Earthquakes here years ago Decades centuries ages Earth’s shaking caused land to slide Forming Mission Peak //Mission Peak land I love// Lake I love, Lake Elizabeth A prominent vista, beyond hills of my youth Mission Peak Seen from paddle boat Like a light house standing guard //Standing guard// Dad standing guard, over our toddler girl At edge of lake feeding ducks/ train sighted by my little ones Running across green expanse Greeting slow moving train Background gaze of Mission Peak //Gazing towards Mission Peak// Gazing upon Mission Peak Covered by occasional snow Feel chill of infrequent dusting 

In schoolyard where I once scraped my knee My daughters share same view Of stalwart snowy pointed peak Now one of their own,

A childhood memory

Lizzie Borden

Lizzie Borden took an ax

Gave her mother forty wacks

When she saw what she had done

Gave her father forty-one

One

Two 

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven 

Eight

It’s in the air

It’s in my dreams

It’s all that I am breathing

Gasping

Choking

Blood blood

Everywhere 

Who is that screaming?

It’s in the air

It’s in my dreams

Deep animal guttural sounds

Jumping rope jumping rope

Off the tallest skyscraper

Into the air I breeze

It’s a bird

It’s a plane

It’s Lizzie Borden

Hurry kids inside inside

Don’t look in her evil eyes

I hear that every day as I cross the street

Onto my parent’s grave where I grieve

Who could have been so cruel?

Who could have been so obscene?

Blood blood everywhere

Why is this happening to me?

You can breeze through most of the day

Not anymore for me

I wish I was a bird in a tree

Chirping to my heart’s content

Now I am only hunted

The evil one

The spinster

She’s out of her mind

I went to school I am educated

I was the school marm

Harm my pupil I would never do

It’s a bird

It’s a plane

Where am I going?

Going to the capital

Going to the zoo

Going to the cuckoo’s house

Lizzie Borden took a rope

When she found she couldn’t cope

Everyone’s fears have come to rest

Lizzie Borden has flown west

 

Leticia Garcia Bradford

© July 2010

Awaiting What’s Ahead

 

Sitting alone in the dark 

I’m down and low in thoughts about myself 

Shall I move on, forward 

Every day a battle 

To prove myself to myself 

Success is beyond reach 

I sit in my chair to accomplish anything 

Wonder whether in person 

I’m able to fulfill my goal of

Producing what I dreamt 

Wonder whether I’ll make it through the day, night 

With love from those who support me 

My goals buoyant 

I’m a success every day 

Every weekend 

Month

All yearlong 

Slow as the snail 

Persistence as the spider spins a web 

Determination of a yearling

Rising to her first stand

Uprighted with horse power,

Winning the heat

Surfacing sunshine, morning red sky 

Surviving each month and day

I shall breathe again and again 

My choice 

My trying pays off 

My heart fulfilled in muscle and love 

Love transpired 

Love of self 

Love of God

Book Review: Homecoming by Kate Morrow

It’s not typical to find the reason for the title of a novel to be uncovered in the last sentence of the book. The beginning sequence alludes to what the reader has to expect, but it doesn’t feel right throughout the progression of present and past events. A family deceased found under the shade of a tree. Was it suicide and murder, or an unfortunate accident? But what happened to the baby? An empty wicker basket found hung from a limb. A massive community search came up empty. The customary ending usually ends with the baby being saved. But this novel doesn’t follow a normal pattern. Characters: can we trust them? Are they likable? manipulative? unsound? Where do they fit in the story? The narrator keeps the reader guessing. Jess, the protagonist, finds what she is looking for, her home,  which is not what she thought her grandmother was, but her previously estranged mother.  Morten’s characters are fully developed by the end of the novel. The reader knows who is who, but how the Turner family died is still a guess.  

Bruja

 

The cabello faced bruja trailed mi Papá from Aqua Calientes, Aqua Calientes, Mexico. “I’m coming for you.” (Buahahaha!!!!!)

Sweet dreams

 Living a song of life, dancing in the night. 

Golden Ticket

 

I’ve got a golden ticket 

See what I can buy

I’ve got a golden ticket 

Marbles or malt balls, I will try

You’ve won the golden ticket 

Won’t you paste it on your wall

Some say you win the golden ticket 

to get the grandest prize of all

Don’t give up your golden ticket

Or put it in the trash

Where’s your golden ticket

Did you exchange it for cash 

I will share my golden ticket 

Buy rubber balls in a jar 

With my golden ticket

I’ll share tiny orb’s near and far