Petal Release

(thank you J & B)

I sit under a blossoming tree
my take-out dinner
receiving delicate petals
like some type of sprinkling

It’s a hot beach day
hot enough to get me
steamed up
though not from the temperature
but from persons not measuring up
to my high expectations

I was near explosion
when dear friends
removed the pressure valve
and let the steam out

I was petrified of mom’s pressure cooker
terrified dinner would land
all over the kitchen ceiling
for I had heard stories of such

She handled her pressure cooker
with ease
though I never saw her steam
not even once

How does one learn
how to let off steam
if you have never had it modelled?

Anger wasn’t even in
the family vocabulary
that I could surmise

There is a busker singing
on the beach
singing something about
Jesus and a woman

Couples stroll the boardwalk
gay and straights
it’s pride month
folks sit lazily on the sand
some girls in bikinis
some in hijabs

I was near explosion
when dear friends
removed the valve
holding space for
my angst and anxiety
hearing me

“Ever tried an MJ?’

I’m too nice,
too peaceloving
I have no boundaries
is this my darkness

A slight welcome breeze
covers me with petals
white petals of
hope and peace
I almost cry with their
baptism

They gently bathe
my heated body
my heated soul

I weep into my own
petal fragility
How I can be stirred up
so uncharacteristically
or may this be my
true self?

What about mom?
Where did she hide her anger
and fragility?

The busker just sang
“Shut your woman down;”

Some stop to see the
petalled tree I’m under

That feels more like me,
fragile, delicate petals
not an InstaPot of heat

Dinner never landed
on the ceiling

I never got accustomed to using the one
we got as a wedding present
I was terrified of being burned,
of the release of the mad woman

I sit under this blossoming tree
waiting for its fruit

A new busker sings
“Hold me close my dear.”

I’m gently bathed by
soft, white petals
softer thoughts
softer music
a balm to my soul.

𝐽𝑢𝑛𝑒 1, 2025 7𝑃𝑀
𝑊𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑝𝑒𝑔 𝐵𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ, 𝑀𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑜𝑏𝑎, 30 𝑑𝑒𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑠 𝐶𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑖𝑢𝑠, 𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑚𝑜𝑘𝑒
𝐼’𝑚 𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑚𝑦 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒-𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟. 𝐼 𝑚𝑎𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎 𝑓𝑒𝑤 𝑝𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑛’𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑎 𝑏𝑎𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔.