I did a workshop today and had a blast!

Making the Invisible, Visible.
If you are an educator pose the question, "Give me an example of an invisible worker." to your students. The responses will be interesting. Check out the work of Martin Espada, the poems I used for this workshop were, Jorge the Church Janitor Finally Quits and Imagine the Angels of Bread. Powerful stuff. Also his response to Nike when they wanted him to write poems for their product.

"you must be totally and insultingly ignorant of my work as a poet" ~Martin Espada

Here's my poem from the workshop.

No Vacancy

in the hours after your departure
or before your arrival
I ghost through
take away what was left behind
the mess and bother
the unflushed and thrown to the floor
bulldozing the refuse of your
affairs illicit or otherwise
I make right and ready
wash, wipe and fold
the discarded made tidy again

a visitor in some strangers house
a specter in the closet
next to the iron on the shelf
an extra blanket to throw off the chill
no one thought to tip
no hush money for the mess
for the detritus of forgotten food
or what was left on the sheets
no point to complain aloud
no one will hear over the whir of vacuum
over the secrets hugging the walls

there are beds I will never sleep in to make
a room that must be picture perfect
just the right temperature
so the chocolate never melts

~TDavis

Palmestry

the sky never blinked
worked itself into a frown
hung on all the faces around her
in that flat way of disappointment
lost dreams
of special circumstances

it could not work the locks
had no hands for the job
shrugged in defeat
spoke of never, ever after
shook what would have been a fist at the moon
a banishment with no conviction
retreated in search of higher ground

no words escaped tight lips
and sweaty palms never existed
in any way that was real
living so far away
loving so far away
only sighted
if her heart lifted
if she would only

look up