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Archive for March, 2018

One for the Fencing Championship

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on March 15, 2018| Leave a Comment »

 

 

within an hour

I watch the boy transform

from seed to leaf to flower

 

 

 

 

 

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What Every Mother Knows

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on March 12, 2018| Leave a Comment »

 

 

 

And it’s scrub the floors

and wash and wring,

run to the store,

fix everything,

 

and wash and wring,

and straighten drawers

remember to bring

 

bags to the store,

clean anything,

then clean some more

 

fix everything—

it’s in our chores

that love finds wings.

 

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One Preparation

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on March 11, 2018| Leave a Comment »

 

 

 

months before the match,

piling sticks onto the bonfire—

already the face glows with the heat

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Getting On Board with Ms. Bishop

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on March 11, 2018| 2 Comments »

 

Lose something every day.

            —Elizabeth Bishop, “One Art”

 

 

Lose something every day, the poet said—

and how I laughed the first time that I read

her words. My keys? My gloves? My place in line?

My favorite socks? A name? My glass of wine?

I’ve got that down, I thought, and shook my head.

 

But then I thought of passing time, the threads

of dates unraveling—and how I try to wind

them back, reclaim those squandered hours as mine.

Lose something every day?

 

And then I thought of certainty, how wed

I am to thoughts, convictions, faith. Instead

of losing them, I cling. Then they confine.

Some things are better lost—my rigid mind,

my prejudice, old chains of shame, my dread—

lose something every day.

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One Way to Walk

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on March 10, 2018| 2 Comments »

 

 

 

the old road to the mine—

getting lost without making

a single turn

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Not Only On Thursdays at Noon

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on March 8, 2018| 3 Comments »

 

for Heartbeat

 

 

Though the clock

implies nothing

with its tick

ineluctable,

the body clicks in

to the beat

and begins

to make music

because, though

clearly there’s

so much to do,

what isn’t

an invitation

to sing?

 

*Thursdays at noon is the present time scheduled for Heartbeat to practice, a seven-woman a cappella choir singing together since 1994. Our next concert, Live as One, features diversity and harmony–songs from all over the world. We’re performing in Telluride at Ah Haa at 7 p.m. on March 15 and in Ridgway at the Sherbino Theater on March 18 at 4 p.m.

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Making Peace with the Darkness

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on March 8, 2018| 12 Comments »

 

 

 

My child, I say, you need not fear the night—

its unlit corners, rooms of dim unknown—

the darkness helps us learn beyond the light.

 

But mom, how do I know that you’re alright

if I can’t see you? I feel so alone.

My child, I say, there’s goodness in the night.

 

The dark erases any lines we might

have drawn, makes all the world appear as one.

The dark helps us to see beyond the light.

 

But mom, I don’t feel safe without my sight.

What if there’s monsters, spiders, things that groan?

My child, I say, there’s kindness in the night.

 

You feel how darkness holds the whole world tight?

Embracing every human, creature, stone—

the darkness helps us reach beyond the light.

 

It hugs us all, despite our wrongs, our rights,

inviting everyone into its home.

My child, I say, you need not fear the night—

the darkness helps us love beyond the light.

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Before the Eggs

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on March 6, 2018| 2 Comments »

 

Why sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.

            —Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

 

 

Eyes barely open, and it doesn’t even occur to me

that anything is wrong in the world. After all,

I am warm and no one is crying. There are no

gunshots, no bombshells, no one kicking at the door.

No one shouts, no one threatens, no one steals.

I’ve yet to read the headlines, yet to remember

yesterday. For a moment, there’s no hitch in my breath,

no stab in the heart. It’s only the beginnings

of a very blue sky and the sound of the dawn chorus

in the nearby tree, though the more I listen,

the more their song sounds like “Me, too. Me, too.”

And somehow, at least for a moment before I rise

to wash my face, before I look in the mirror,

I still believe everything is going to be okay.

And sometimes, despite everything I hear,

despite feeling it fall away, the feeling stays.

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A Case for Quietude

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on March 6, 2018| 2 Comments »

 

 

 

Arriving at the starting line

I think of the marathon to come—

somewhere there’s a man

 

with a gun and a timer.

Somewhere there’s another line

I hope to cross.

 

Somewhere there’s a woman

who doesn’t know there is a race.

She knows only that the juncos

 

have come, and if she is still enough

she can see their white tail feathers

flashing in flight.

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One in the Snow

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on March 4, 2018| Leave a Comment »

 

 

 

dancing with the shovel

for an hour on the drive,

everywhere we go, a path

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