Summer is in the Air The sun is out. It’s time to play.  Come out! Come out!  Summer’s here today! The flowers and trees are in full bloom. Vacation time means there’s more room for endless hours of rest and relaxation, or perhaps, a new hobby’s dedication. From coast to coast the children play, splashing in swimming pools all the day. Frolicking down spiraling water slides, their smiling faces impossible to hide. Families flock frequently to county fairs, dining on delicious fried delicacies there. Brave souls bound aboard the carnival rides, around and around, upside down they fly! People lounge around for picnics in parks, eating vast amounts of ice…

The Spaces that Whisper Home I gaze out my balcony at terra cotta tiles underneath the watchful stance of Orion. I reminisce with a smile, for these are the same style as my grandparents’ house thousands of miles away in Germany. By the waterfront I oft arrive to roam, watching the ferries as they float home down the river flowing out to the sea. There, the seagulls cry out to remind me of childhood days spent on Galveston beach. Here it is as if these spaces that whisper home were just within my reach. Our people passionately parade down her pavement during all seasons whether to protest, rejoice, or remember.…

I wrote this poem for Why Poetry? the Joel Fallon Scholarship Fundraiser, and performed it on April 24, 2019 in Benicia, California. Our Celestial Dance Art is the sunshine that nourishes our souls, breathing wonder into the mundane. Poetry is our home planet, birthing a thousand moons that orbit in a celestial dance, and we are the stars, lighting up the universe one flicker at a time, collectively burning messages of hope and awe into the darkness of midnight to last for eternity long after our own light fades.

I lead the gathering at the 2019 Vallejo Women’s March Summit “Women Building Vallejo” in a call and response invocation where those gathered said “We March!” each time it appears in the piece. These are the 10 stanzas I decided to use out of what was a 36 stanza poem. I’ll put the rest in a future book. It was an honor and a pleasure to be among so many powerful women. A Blessing for the Women Who Pray  With Their Feet by D.L. Lang, Vallejo Poet Laureate It has gotten so tough that we mothers, sisters, daughters and wives,  have declared, “Enough!” And so we rise to march against…

I wrote these and performed them at Voices of the Season at the McCune in the JFK Library, and Hanukkah & Hilarity, respectively. Voices of the Season We are but a handful of voices this season among a sparkling chorus of many reasons to add a little more light to the winter chill, spreading peace and love to ease the world’s ills. For all the many traditional reasons we choose to come together this season may all our days be joyous and our blessings grow, no matter how cold these winter winds blow. Hanukkiah Lighting Across the world homes are aglow as candles flicker in their windows. They shine out…