Skip to content

Author: Tamiko Lowery

“Save It For A Rainy Day”

“Save It For A Rainy Day”

the video’s

like a postcard

sent to somebody

you love

you miss

such a simple lyric

basic and beautiful

and true

it’s like

I’m there

with you

and I can feel

the sun’s ray

wash over me

as it dips

into the blue, blue

sea

TL

T-Ball

T-Ball

took a time

out

beneath the blink

of “Friday Night Lights”

bleacher high

I watched them play

in that easy, wonderful way

before

the scoreboard goes up

and the Crayons put down

#3 is up to bat

and he’s swinging hard

‘bout knocked a kneecap out

ball ain’t even on the stand yet

and he’s whacking the L out of it

patient is the coach

who bends over and stands it back up

10 times

and quickly sticks the ball atop

for the 11th whack

SMACK

“it’s outta here!”

TL

Weightless

Weightless

there’s a lotta

t h i n g s

on my desk

and even though

I’ve cleared it

a time or two

it all comes back

somehow

things ‘ya can’t part with

no matter how

same with the car

front seat, back seat

console, glove

hatch

there’s a lotta that

and this

and the other

how many times

I’ve paused … to wonder

of the simple soul

that travels

near and far

unencumbered

TL

Biographies

Biographies

suppose

I understand it

better now

the stories

all those stories

I had to read

I had to watch

all those stories

famous or not

dead or alive

a person’s life story

the book I have to read

the movie I have to watch

there is no choice

there never was

TL

Child of Circumstance

Child of Circumstance

just read

his story

in the Times

saw his sad face

there

an orphan boy

left in Myanmar

he missed the boat

to Malaysia

the one that carried

his mother away

along with

his three brothers and sister

his mind understands

what his heart cannot

TL

Soundcheck

Soundcheck

before the

seats are filled

to capacity

the cups and candy

what he’ll wear

out there

hat or no

which cologne

shaved or unshaved

boots or blades

in the details

the dust

cranks it up

perfect pitch

nobody but the band

the strings

the sticks

him at the mic

slow dancing

to “the taste

of strawberry wine …”

TL

Rachel Platten

Rachel Platten

Pandora streamed

your song

VEVO played

your video

Spotify plugged it

online

and radio went

round after round

and knocked it OUT

cold

TL

Inward Eye

Inward Eye

on a highway

headed somewhere

out there

the world in a win

dow

and you see it

in a shutter

the mind frames

some images stay

with you

others fade

away

and it could be

breathtaking

but you missed it

‘cause your mind

hasn’t moved

past the first

frame

TL

These Days

These Days

their boy

has an arm

a MLB arm

and even when

they can’t agree

on the sun or the moon

or the stars

they agree

on that

their boy

has an arm

a MLB arm

TL

Little Things

Little Things

took a hankie

outta the drawer

the one I never use

but love

‘cause there’s a cherry blossom

hand-stitched in the corner of it

and even though I never use it

I knew I’d need it

and when it was over

the careful folds were gone

soaked through and through

into a wet, wadded ball

we got in the car

and I was glad I decided to ride with her

over there

instead of going alone

like I’d planned

and after I got home

I realized I’d left the hankie in her car

along with my umbrella

the next day

I found a zip-lock with my umbrella and hankie in it

she’d washed it good as new

dried the tears

and folded it back in place

with the cherry blossom facing up

TL

“Peter Pan”

“Peter Pan”

decked out

in nautical trunks

his goggles

suctioned to his head

this pint-size pirate

was unafraid

to walk the plank

he’d stand

at the edge

and clap his hands together

prayerlike

and raise them up

arrowed over his head

not out like Superman

once his form

was just right

he’d plop on in

and go

and do it

all over again

TL

“The Bell Still Rings”

“The Bell Still Rings”

driving along

and somehow

we got on

the subject of Santa

“has anyone ever seen Santa,

i mean has anyone ever seen him

put the presents under the tree …”

“I don’t know”

“do you think this year

i could maybe set up my ipad

to record … i just want to see him …”

“no, that’s illegal”

“why is it illegal”

“it just is”

“so, if nobody’s ever seen him put the presents under the tree …

then how do we know what he looks like …

how do we know he wears red and has a white beard …”

“well, in the olden days there must have been some sightings …

like Bigfoot … we wouldn’t know what Bigfoot looks like

if people hadn’t seen him; we wouldn’t know how hairy he is …”

“oh yeah, Bigfoot …”

“now, remember what I told you about Santa

and how when children reach a certain age,

he lets the parents take over for him so he can

share the magic of Christmas with all the little kids who need him …”

“what age do you think that will be for me, how old were you …”

“well, I think I was around 9 or 10 or so …”

“at school, somebody told Alex that Santa wasn’t real.

That’s all he talked about after that, and he asked me what i thought.

i told him, ‘duh, of course Santa’s real.’ Alex loves Santa as much as i do.”

“well, you know that some people don’t believe in Santa, and that’s ok.

We all have different beliefs. Some never believe, and some always will.

Teenagers and adults, sometimes, forget how it was with Santa when they were little.”

“i won’t forget …”

“I know. I know you won’t forget …”

TL

Thomas G

Thomas G

and he’s still

on the job

on a Wednesday

in 1983

not a Tuesday

2015

his men

have to be paid

they came in at 8:30

and left at 3:15

and he can’t get so and so

to understand

his men

have to be paid

on time

everything has to be

on time

he has a schedule

to keep

things work best

that way

tell so and so

his men

have to be paid

on time

TL

Watercolor

Watercolor

at first light

the stars fall

and rest on blades

winking like the sea

some cobblestone street

where shadows seep

like wet sand

and there’s always a bird

somewhere near

and some can’t sing

puffs of smoke

a stack, a stick, a saucer

people nicer

not quite awake

the dogs sniff

the cats stretch

somebody blows their nose

and spits

the water pours

and turns black

then brown

at the bottom

of a cup

you can still see the moon

in lingerie

if it rained the night before

the puddles will tell

and the pinecones will be drawn uptight

the spider can’t be found

her work a silver strand

the wind took

the building bare

an empty chair

switches on the wall

codes and passwords and logins

digits

seeds in the dirt

growing underneath

and somebody just

walked by

TL

The Necklace

The Necklace

wasn’t there

to shop fer her

“we need to focus on

a grad gift”

but she didn’t hear that

nope

stood right there

unfazed

staring into a glass box

“mama, i have to have it …

please, i’ll do anything …

and i won’t ask for anything else

for my birthday

if you just get me this now, that’s all

i want … PLEASE …”

this went on

and on

the lady at the counter

smiled sweetly

and says that everything is on SALE

today only

75% off

“can’t we just look at it …”

so the lady opens the case

and takes the necklace out of the box

and hands it over

the begging gets worse

and I can feel another gray hair popping out

we start going back and forth

and hand it back to the lady

“we need to focus on

a grad gift”

finally I find something

reasonable

and go to check out

“but mama …” trails behind me

“yeah, no”

“but you don’t understand …”

“yeah, no”

“i’ll pay you back when we get home”

she feels me folding

I ask why

“what is it about that necklace”

and all of a sudden she gets real quiet

and looks around to make sure nobody’s listening

so I bend down

and she whispers in my ear …

“it’s magic. i know it. It looks exactly like the medallion

on that show where the girl wears it, and it gives her special powers

so she can talk to animals.”

when we get home, it doesn’t work on

the dog, the cat, the bird, the rabbit, the hamster, the fish, the second fish

but what was interesting about it all

was how it worked on her

when we typed in: blue abalone

her eyes got “minion”

“i knew it! i knew it! i knew it had magic power in it!”

she never did pay me back

well, actually, maybe she did

TL

Seaside

Seaside

sitting there

watching the sun

come up

over the waves

those gentle, careless waves

that crash aggressive

against the shore

then slip back out

to sea

where the paper planes

come in for a landing

and drift away

I’m reminded

what that little girl said to the seagull

“someday, i’ll come back

and live here with you

in my stick house by the sea

and i won’t need much

… happy i’ll be”

this thought turns over

like a tumbling shell

and I feel like I could walk forever

but I know I have to turn around

and go back

not a little girl anymore

but my daughter is

and she’ll be waking up any minute

wondering where I am

as the ocean rakes over the sand

leaving not a trace

TL

Woods

Woods

to be able

to put your life

in perspective

is an opportunity

not met

by a hurried step

we live a thousand lives

in the end

the experience of emotion

is what molds us

and we take its form

its ever shifting, folding form

maybe Kipling said it best,

“If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

and treat those two impostors just the same …”

 an observation of the very old and the very young

 displays this adage

 while one is in the process of continually letting go …

 food falls off the spoon, scrape up another bite

 the other is in the process of constantly attaining …

 food falls off the high chair, stop and watch it fall

 yet both are open to change

 in a way that is harder for the middle minded

 to obtain and process

 clarity comes in those small, quiet moments

 when the grass has long since grown

 over the mound of dirt

 and now needs maintenance

 TL

Butterfly

Butterfly

when you don’t

think it could

get any better than this

any worse than that

it does

in the expanse

the shape and form and fit

there is dimension

an angle

a shard of light

when a door opens

a black box when it closes

where’s the window

cut a square

in your cardboard box

and wait

the sheers of the sun

will pool in

drape over the moon

and soften all the stars

‘tis a curious thing

metamorphosis

TL

Dear Dad,

Dear Dad,

she’ll be nine

tomorrow

and I think I’m in denial

I just

keep busy

with things to do

pretty soon I won’t be able to pick her up

any

more

when I tell her this

and I tell her this all the time

she just laughs and says I’d better start lifting heavier weights

yesterday, I walked into the kitchen

and she’d already put up the decorations on the cabinet doors

when I asked how she did it

‘cause I didn’t see a chair

she demonstrated by jumping up in the air with a fly swatter

she had smacked each giant pre-taped water drop to each cabinet with the fly swatter

she looked at me like I should have known that

I get that look a lot

since March, she’s been on this owning-her-own-gift-shop-kick

so, tomorrow she’s gonna sell her wares to the party people

she’s made pottery, necklaces, bracelets, bookmarks, flowers, Legos, a mess

her artwork is priceless

I’ve already bought two sketches and two bookmarks and a Lego record player

she made me sit still for a self-portrait yesterday and let me have it for free

I actually like it, minus the fat face

she’s awake now

so, ‘ya know what that means

yeah, I’ll tell her

TL