(inspired by the Sunday Scribblings' weekly prompt: Bio)
born on the tip
of New Jersey
only girl in a
house of boys --
(an elderly woman from Brooklyn
asked me once "was that a blessing
or a coise?")--
how did she know?
watered by words
from the Jordan Valley
and Nazareth
my father a flying
giant
with black academic
wings
delievering a Word
a disturbing mixture
of Freud and Jesus
in a British accent
laced with a tinge
of Empire
and Entitlement
my mother a
misplaced Southerner
always homesick
for the Simple
and the Real
blossoming on visits
Home
amidst southern-fried
chicken and okra
watermelon eaten
in a liturgical circle
outside among the lightning bugs
and cicadas
cholesterol-soaked casseroles
and syrupy-sweet pecan pie
on Homecoming Sunday
on the edge of the cemetary
where I learned
who I was
a member of a vast
family forest
connected
loved because I occupied
a branch
words were my salvation
up North
amid the noise and confusion
rebellious brothers
shedding their Church Skins
with great drama
I wrote
I bathed my soul
in the nicotine-charred voice
of Neil Diamond
lost between Places
seeking my own "I Am"
in the lonely years
of high school
disillusioning years
among Fundamentalists
finding
losing
finding
in the Never Dull
Circle of Life
doing battle
binding wounds
wearing the Black Robe
like Dad's
delivering a Word
shaken
grounded
wounded
by that Word
of Life and Death
finally
coming home
to a place
I'd never been before
right in the Middle
finding Love
to settle me
and open me
my heart torn open
and healed
by a child
shedding the Robe
walking out
of the musty sanctuary
taking some of
the Old
and looking for
the New.
