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A Home ~ On Valentine's Day

by Olga Rosales

A home ~

I've wondered why
your cutting went so deep
and your bloodshed got so slippery
on our hard wood floor

I've wondered why
you begged for more than I could give
I was only asking for your treasures
and the keys to the attic

but today I hang those questions
in the shed
today I promise
me
new oxygen
in this muggy mess

today of all days
I will play in my pantry
and bake myself
something sweet

I will sing this me
into remembering
the uncut skin
the coins
and well wishing in the pond

the shine which once bounced sunlight
off the dinning room china

Ten Things I'm Grateful For Today... 2011

by Olga Rosales

3/3/11

Tree House Part 2, a.k.a., 230 Guerrero St.
Blythe Baldwin
Denise Jolly
Nancy and Christie Rosales
Unusual Saints
John Philip Staedler
Abel Rosales
Eliza Rickman
over-the-knee-high suede boots
this Vetted Word community

3/1/11

March... I'm grateful for March
tax time
black leather/stiletto boots ... classic
audits
paper
inventory
work... I'm grateful for work
this mac
poetry... all of it... even the remedial poetry... if it makes me smile I'm grateful
my mom... she's the bizz-ness

2/24/11

North Beach and quiet mornings
prayer

a date.

by Olga Rosales

he swims
impaired
upstream a broken women
and thinks he knows me

attempts to read my history
in laugh lines
I’d sell back to the devil if I could

traces my lineage
these are not his grandmother’s
rivers

the well that fills me
was built before her
our common ground is not
Mexican

what is common
is a 1st generation’s dichotomy
between not really 'pueblo'
and not really 'norte'
and that’s not enough

at least not tonight

he says my aura delightful
when I’ve never walked a garden
whose poison didn’t reek
familiar

whose snails didn’t know my name

The King is Here ~

by Olga Rosales

He arrived today

cut me open

beginning at my feet

fillet up my legs

until calf couldn’t hold itself up

until exposed knee throbbed

until my battered heart

cried out

King

He arrived today
made me vulnerable
naked and resolved
pulling at His moons
summoning His stars
filing the void of me
until my limbs bled out
Grace

well pleased
among His martyrs
in His world’s throat
all shouting praise
in unison

My King is here
Our King is here
The King is here

I heard an echo long dead
felt breath on my cheek
forgotten and suffocated by all
I traded sin too

Response to Psalm 40

by Olga Rosales

Joys of knowing water
that runs through fingertips
a crimson bridge suspends
a single prayer
that saves

love solid as an ice cube
love that only vapors
from within
I know a God that quenches
desiccate and lonely people
a perfect resolution 
suspended by a 2000 coiled promise
that will never let us fall or fail

because of all my searching
my heavy lifting
my bending knees
and miss-marked maps
I finally take the X you’ve marked
and find myself in all your absolution

all your Glory 
thick as blood
that saves like tears
so I can walk again

because I’ve fallen Lord

Ten Things I'm Grateful For Today...

Starting ~ June 22nd, 2010 by Olga Rosales

9/18/10

My friends that have cars in the city
my friends
tourists
North Beach
that Golden Gate Bridge
customer service reps at Apple
making a good decision
meeting a really awesome person
tall men
five inch heels

9/15/10

sleeping in
putting out three major fire alarms at the office
getting things done
looking forward to Wonder Dave's feature on October 6th
having a great VW staff that consistently challenges me to improve
having a staff
having a roommate
organizing my closet
finding all my underwear amidst several moving boxes
looking forward instead of backward

Mornings

June 17th, 2010 by Olga Rosales

not quite day light yet
shadows
linger
parched lips
fall on thirsty skin
as moon tears
hydrate
hurt

I wait patiently
for the sun

roll over on my phone
hear mountains
collapsing rolling hills
while reading 2 a.m.
text messages
I should have never sent

tried to climb down this tempur pedic
but found myself covered in your ash
swimming in your residue
the tattoo of you moves
from limb to limb
claiming all my territory

and I hide from myself
in Pandora’s box spring
held together
by a duvet fortress

do not lift my head
my eyes will sting

Transmissions

by Olga Rosales

I saw him jump
for every phone call
we didn’t make

every haphazard attempt
at glory
every mystery once
solved by
tears flowing through
those telephone wires

every disgrace
told
laced lullabies from afar

tucked us into bed
where bugs didn’t bite

crying meant love
when beating meant love
when leaving meant love

and all that mattered
tasted of stale ginger ale

drinking meant love
macho meant love

breaded
weeknight tables
and every lit light
justified his anger
at himself

made his reality
bareable
his weight measurable
his Man-hood
viable

Dragons in the Sky

by Olga Rosales

weight of the world
is pilling up
on notepads
chasing poems
taking dragons from the sky
and calling it normal

weight of the world
is pilling up
on recycling bins
community building
2012
Armageddon
and molasses in my throat

weight of the world
falls at my feet
I can’t pick it up
I won’t pick it up

I’m just too damn short

Because they are hungry
I am lost
and all the crying
can’t stop my dying

My death
stews in weight of this world
and my death
will be the breath of
giving into this weight

I can’t feel my toes
freezing hands

One Another

Olga Rosales

we swim bayou
through distilled rye wheat and potatoes
distilled grain malt juniper berries

wandering we fall down
Waterford crystal
built on stems
drinking up our promise

I am in cave
barrels fill
my loud mouth soup
and my date
pretends this
rockstar complex
is a.o.k.

I remind him
no pedestal
no need to fall off
disgracefully
because I am not your savior
I just met mine

He spends his time
crushing grapes
flattening sugar sustenance
I need for tears
I need for life
replacing while de-stemming
All that keeps me from him

the ultimate decanting...