" Docs on Battlefields "...

" Docs on Battlefields "

by Suzán Jiván
Mom & Mom-
Mom Suzán

Docs on battlefields
with half kisses
like the last words
of The Pledge of Allegiance

for mom-and-pop candy shops
not showing one's age
during weight classifications
of beardless faces
spouting scholarly phrases
from The Olden Days

given unflattering makeovers
in recent portrayals
by Pre-K illustrators
being buoyed over multi-
generations all in crayon...

" Our Mother "

" Our Mother "

by Suzán Jiván
Mom & Mom-
Mom Suzán

Our Mother
knowing
each crevice
and gully
forests
plus jungle
hunter
and hunted
just up
ahead of us
coming in
from downwind
heat glistening
litheness of Spring
within
larger
rivers
as seen
upwind
with tails
twitching
coal-black
jagged
placid
fractures
sudden
abandonment
no longer
lunging
or running
yet silently
listening
while ascending
into ceaseless
steepness
faces unseen
tilting
spirits lifted
by magicians
over final
windy ridges
closing
distances
re-entering
side hilling
well-lit...