A new mural! This is an original work inspired by Louis Comfort Tiffany. One of nine panels in the mural - now called the "Pasadena Jazz Institute Women's Wall" - it was created live alongside the works of nine other female artists - and to the accompaniment of a Coltrane tribute combo - in celebration of Art Night Pasadena 2009 on Friday, March 13.

John Drake said
You can't control who
you fall in love with
Four years ago now

I vehemently disagree
And here is my list of desires:
a kind man
a loving man
an honest man
a poet 
a painter
a really good dancer
sense of humor is a must
a man whose eyes sparkle when he looks at me
just as mine will shine at the mere thought
of his smile

John Drake,
respectfully,
you were wrong.
I have found the man.

One more item:
a man who is gracious
and noble
in defeat.

It's like I'm that nun in the Vatican.
The one they stick in the Sistine Chapel.
She waits for the din of the visitors
to become just too much
and then she will clap
and clap and clap and clap
until there is complete silence.

It never lasts.
First a small gasp
How could you help but?
then a furtive whisper
and a speaking up to be heard
And we are back in the awesome din again.
Hopeless, they are.
I must clap.

Actually I'm the complete opposite of her
in every way.

Eyes sparkle in expectation
assured pleasure awaits
an authoritative nod
the curl of a true smile
you tell me
This is a Good Song.

I smile
in shared appreciation
but that's a lie.
My joy has been attained.

Your music
is dead
in its digital fidelity.

What if one day
two words
transposed themselves?
or the next an entirely new verse
appeared

out of thin air
on the CD
you bought in college
that you could not afford?

For you
the song ends, an easy
reunion handily within grasp.

Mine is a satisfaction
I cannot predict.