Grandma’s Sun Room
Grandma once had a
sun room in the duplex up
on the hill. It was
her space, laced with all things opulent,
including a telescope
to spy on outer space. Upon
my first view, I saw multiple
falling stars, and Jupiter
too. But maybe that’s
an embellished memory made up
by the child in me.
Children’s minds honestly operate
out of whimsy. For
real, the room appeared transparent
with floor to ceiling
windows imploring light to occupy
every square inch. A
Swarovski crystal menagerie opened
my eyes to hundreds
of rainbow refractions dancing upon
the wall. Twilight
was the most beautiful time of all. Opposite
the cascading glass,
a hearth warmed what wasn’t appeased
by the sun. I made a
space of my own in this room, plopping
my whole self on the
plush white carpet to line up
my marble collection,
one by one. The sun knew how to pop
the aquamarines, indigos,
greens, pearls, pewters, and coppers
in each, making them
even more special to me. The room’s view proved
an un-ironic
contrast. Capturing Casper’s un-developed
hills: rolling brown
with sagebrush, bold sky, and antelope.
Looking out from my white
glass orb, I suppose
the plain,
uncomplicated wilderness warmly appraised
my introverted
existence. The sun room was a place
I could escape from
the noise, the conversation, the competition. A place
where the only gaze I
had to face was that of the twinkling crystal blowfish upon
the shelf. Transparent
to me, the world
around. Transparent
to it, all of me.
Safe, though, in a glowing space
full of soft white
noise, created by Grandma.
Looking at Life in Limericks
The pin said to complicate things.
I thought, “Well, I know what that means.”
But I didn’t know
It’d become my motto
Or quite just how true it would ring.
Because when we talk about race
It seems we have one saving grace:
To essentialize
And homogenize.
But then other issues take place!
Identities do intersect,
And privilege comes with context.
We must find a way
To come out and say
It’s not always what we expect.
We simplify things: black and white,
In efforts to make wrong stuff right.
But let’s take a stand,
It’s often: both/and
The complexities tend to shed light.
