Ripple

Good deeds can indeed punish the body;

baking sweets threw out my lower back

until I was bowlegged on my birthday

The ripple of pain was constant while walking.

I still had to be a wife even on drugs.

The Menorah Ripple doughnut masterpiece

waited for us in Chelsea on Wednesday,

when the pain was the worst.

(Why did he need me to come along?

Can he do anything without me?)

Free chairs, hot chocolate & Aleve

were my closest friends,

especially when my frienemy, the pain

was rippling away, like a serpent

electrocuted, traveling up & down my legs.

In the taxi, he rattled away

with the huge doughnut package on his lap;

I slept a little, with his words

rippling away; I wish I was

a million miles away….

Today, I stood up straight

and marched slowly/briskly up the hill

and down corridors in the subway.

Thanks to the tail end of Aleve

and my meditation exercise,

that taught me to embrace all discomforts,

and the sack of goodies

(the co-worker gifts which gave me this in the first place),

I returned to work, unaided,

as the rippling pain

turned into a dull groan;

I’ll see the doctor tomorrow.

This is for me today

This eve, or penultimate day
before the winter solstice,
I captured the setting sun
with my sight while on the 7

And the looming buildings 
of Manhattan were black as pitch;
the sun was golden,
cutting through the matter

As we rode by on the elevated train,
I thought I would never see
this light ever again this winter,
but it was all mine, for a moment, again…

I see you standing close,
watching the dying light with me,
even when, like the dark, faraway figures
were also just a dream

When we weren’t dying,
we were free, after the snow
& the coldness would show 
off all traces of crying

I was stronger then, before you.
I am still strong, even when I do remember you,
& while this is my most favorite
part of the day,
the sunset does reminds me of you.