A third-generation Angeleno, Blade draws inspiration from Southern California landscapes, domestic interiors, and the everyday experiences of motherhood. Gardens, desert paths, domestic spaces, and interactions with her daughters serve as sites for exploring care, continuity, and the cyclical nature of life.

A Salutary Spring

Gliding through the verdant

mess of tangled beauty,

the limb of time refuses

The vase precedes the compost

With the bedroom door cracked,

two horned owls call out in the blackness

discussing, considering, offering

The halftime show on the tv

echoes down the hall

As the wave-like din of a party rises and falls

God bless America(s)!

The present, unaware

of its solidarity with yes and no

attempts to sketch evolution.

Dormant seeds

already shedding their introversion,

stretch spellbound, towards conviction.

A dry crunch of a sycamore leaf

and the dog’s face presses into the screen.

Somewhere between restless and lazy

I too breathe in the smell of the damp

warm brick and night blooming jasmine

Mimicking, learning

She devoutly believes

In the infinitude of beauty

Spring is no sleep walker.

Courtesy MASSIMODECARLO.