On Enzo Turning Two (Times Seven)

Happy birthday Enzo. This is my ode to you today!

Ruler of the Home

Early morning, 5 a.m.
I cannot sleep
A headache rouses me from bed
My husband rolls over
asks what he can do
I tell him nothing
grab my fuzzy pink robe
and tumble down the stairs.

I open the crate
where the dog has been detained
to keep him from chewing
teenager leftovers
To entice him out, I reach in
scratch his curly white belly fur
Enzo opens one eye, then the next

His coffee colored eyes remind me
I too need caffeine
but first, sleep
I carelessly toss couch pillows to the floor
grab the sheepskin blanket
and sink into the sofa
Enzo comes to me
his tags jingling in the dark
He leaps onto my lap
then settles his nose near mine
as if to chase away the demons
hammering my head.

I touch his fur,
feeling the rush of my blood
settle into a rhythm
in sync with my breath
Somewhere in my mind
I have fallen fast asleep
dreaming of ski slopes
and friends I have not called.

My son once called Enzo “a peacemaker”
Family members reach for him
before they extend a hug to me
and I don’t blame them

His name means home ruler yet
he has not chased away my headache
nor protected me at all odds
but he has created a harmony I never knew

“People Living Near One Another”

A large Cincinnati-based corporation, Western-Southern, wants to relocate a downtown shelter for homeless and recovering women, the Anna Louise Inn, owned by Cincinnati Union Bethel. W-S is willing to pay CUB $3million to move the Inn. Their claim, if they have a rightful one, is the shelter is located in a non-descript part of downtown where W-S would like to form a neighborhood.

There are many definitions of neighborhood. From New Urbanism – one where a community is walkable, and designed to contain a diverse range of jobs and housing. Another few from Merriam Webster – 1: in a neighborly relationship, the quality or state of being neighbors, 2: proximity: a place or region near : vicinity, 3: an approximate amount, extent, or degree 4, a : the people living near one another, b : a section lived in by neighbors and usually having distinguishing characteristics.

Neighborhoods are not created. They are built one sidewalk block at a time. They emerge one shop owner at a time. Neighborhoods are a work in progress and succeed best when the character is maintained, and the people who live, work and play in that area are left to define it.

Western-Southern’s first attempt was to purchase the building outright, of which two offers were been spurned because the owners of the Anna Louise Inn were awarded federal dollars to renovate. CUB simply does not want to move the Inn.

The Anna Louise Inn has long history of serving women in Cincinnati. According to the CUB website, “In the early 1900’s, young women from rural areas were coming to Cincinnati to work and could not find suitable housing. Often the cheapest rooms were in undesirable neighborhoods, or landlords would charge more because women required a sitting room for guests in addition to a bedroom, a separate bathroom, and more security. Recognizing a need for affordable and safe housing for women, the agency turned to the Tafts…who helped provide funding to erect a five-story building to accommodate 120 women in single rooms…. The Inn was filled to occupancy on its first day.

Western-Southern’s latest attempt is to force City Council to turn away federal dollars because the owners are not keeping in line with the original mission. Western-Southern is claiming the renovation of the Anna Louise Inn will also bring men into this facility, which CUB has outright denied.

Women in transition need a home. They need a bed and a safe space to allow for healing from abuse, addiction and caring for their families. They don’t need a bright shiny facility, located away from the heart of downtown where job prospects might be less so and they become isolated from “the rest of us”.

It’s essential for them to be rooted in a neighborhood, this neighborhood, which will support them, where businesspersons and residents can model for them behaviors they too are working on. Women need relationships and diversity, and neighbors who will reach out to show kindness. They need to be where they can find connections to some level of normality. They require “people living near one another” as Merriam-Webster puts it.

All of this is consistent with the concept of a neighborhood, disputing the comments in Western-Southern’s letter, “For a really successful neighborhood to develop, though, you’ve got to have a consistent experience. For that to happen, you can’t have a facility in the heart of it that is completely inconsistent with that experience.”

These women will benefit from the energy of a lively neighborhood where they can enjoy the green space in nearby Lytle Park, watch fireworks when Joey Votto hits a homer or walk the same path as those who are walking to work at Western-Southern. Women will strive more surrounded by others who are striving.

And finally, they will be standing in the place of so many women who came to Cincinnati to work for a better life. They will gain from the century of wisdom accumulated on those grounds.

The Lake Effect

It swoops down from Canada,
this legendary mongoose
with a wingspan that plasters
the downwind side of the Great Lakes.

Descends on ordinary citizens
who just want to punch their card,
get to school, or arrive in time to see
the latest high school basketball phenom
that won’t make it out of there.

The ogre wreaks havoc
on gas stations and grocery stores,
emptying shelves of substance and sustenance.
Funny though, the giant’s presence
is never unforeseen,
always arriving according to
the calendar of Old Man Winter.

Sometimes the colossal fiend
clips off a section of land
sparing Westerners as they cluck about their luck.
The tyrant travels with gusto
through eastern portions of cities
liberating layer upon layer of its wrath,

causing crashes and burned dinners,
reducing visibility into the future,
and forcing shovels from their bins.
Mittens and gloves dried by the heaters
are returned to service for the next round.

Forecasters treat the creature with reverence
praising the virtues of its might
while ordinary people combat it
with snow blowers, scrapers and picks,
digging out their dignity, only to lose it again.

It is hard to be happy here.

When finally weariness shows,
Spring comes
and the same titan
that barreled down on the populace
will gently soothe
their foreheads and tempers.
But sometimes it is too late
for the kindness that comes.