Kit Kennedy


Water’s Lure

whatever you eat today
holds the taste of the sea
whose hand were you holding
when you woke from the dream
of turtles ascending 
in waters off the coast of Hawaii?
whose hand did you let go of
thirty years too soon?



In Its 7th Decade, the Mirror Finally Finds Its Authentic Voice

Be forewarned,
that shade
of blue
on you
is treacherous.



The Number 7

Numbers are more than a function
of adding or taking away.  Consider
the number 7.  There are 7 notes
on the diatonic scale, 7 colors
in the rainbow.  7 is the symbol
of perfection, security, safety, 
rest.  A cool sip of water 
on a hot afternoon 7 days
a week is heaven.



There’s Always a Window

Sometimes you are that window.

Sometimes you are merely the frames holding the panes firmly.

Sometimes you are the red-winged blackbird who flashes, quickly moves on.  



How Can I Not Start This Conversation with the Word Peeling?

How can you not ask
to be taken
on a seaside vacation
where under the docks
all manner of things
corrode
where everyday stories
peel away from memory
even those under water?
On the topic of holidays,
I’ll get back to you by letter.
Be patient.  My response 
likely to arrive off-season.



Snapped

In her second hear of college
she lost her mind to Beauvoir
and Sartre.  Blake tipped her 
over the edge, blasting her 
from ennui into bliss.  
She ferried this feeling  
decades, thousands of miles.  
In her next move, she’ll pack 
this memory in the box 
of orphaned jigsaw pieces. 
Label contents:   
Not forgotten.  Every room.   



This Day Holds Silence Close

Roasting summer’s last peaches
she thinks only of persimmons.
She feels off balance, her imagination
an unruly garden, no demarcation —
morning glitter or evening stars. 
Memory sometimes simple as one pearl button 
sometimes an immense gutter.
Oh well, work to be done. To which garment need she sew
this fine, black button?  Who among her closest knows
every item in disrepair in Flora’s closet?   

Kit Kennedy lives in Walnut Creek, CA and serves as Poet-in-Residence of SF Bay Times and Resident Poet at Ebenezer Lutheran herchurch. Please visit: http://poetrybites.blogspot.com

 
 

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