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Archive for July, 2024

Irony

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on July 12, 2024| 14 Comments »

The more forgiveness
you have, the more
whole you are,
but the less
of you remains,
as if life is a cloth
and you the spool,
and the only way
to stitch the story
of your redemption
is to use
the blue thread
of your veins.

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Now That the Stakes Are Low

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on July 10, 2024| 11 Comments »


 
 
For the fourth time in four weeks,
I slip my spade into the dark soil
of the half-circle garden.
I make twenty shallow holes,
then lift the pansies from crinkly
plastic containers and drop
the root-bound squares into the earth.
Within hours, the small brown bunny
arrives with his pink twitchy nose
and his small round lump
of soft bunny body,
and while I wash dishes
I meet through the window
his innocent, unblinking gaze
as he consumes a dozen
deep purple petals
in small, efficient tugs.
He looks at me as if to say,
You love me. And I do.
I croon at the bunny how
cute his small ears. How perfect
his bliss. How good he is
for eating his pretty bunny food.
Tomorrow, the rest
of the blooms will be gone.
In a week, the leaves will
be gone, too. Every. Single. One.
And I will go buy more pansies.
How sweet it’s become,
this path of surrender,
the strange joy that rises in me
when I see my precious pansies
nibbled to the roots.
Now that the stakes are low,
it’s much easier to bow
to the way things are.
For the price of pansies,
I can practice again and again
how to find true delight
in this art of letting go.

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When My Daughter Was Small

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on July 9, 2024| 14 Comments »


 
 
For hours we built
houses for fairies—
with fairy beds fashioned
from smooth red sandstone,
pillows made of soft
white daisy petals,
and green blankets
layered with willow leaves.
We crouched by the river
and carved thin moats
around their tiny homes,
used bark for boats
and tiny yellow bits
of sweet clover
to feed the fairy fish.
Sometimes now
when I walk by the river
and see what still exists
of the narrow
red stone paths we paved,
I miss those fairy-bright days.
I didn’t believe in fairies,
not really. But standing
amidst the rubble of their villages,
I see clearly now
what was less visible then,
how the hours spent
building palaces
with weeds, twigs,
rocks and sticks,
were hours rich beyond reason,
the magic so honest
it still lingers
amidst their ruined homes.
 

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Not Drowning, But Waving

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , on July 8, 2024| 2 Comments »


 
 
So gently
the earthy
scent
of the
river
of
sorrow
enters
the open
window,
touches
my face
like a
timid
lover,
as if
it doesn’t
yet trust
I will
follow it
forever.

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More

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on July 7, 2024| 6 Comments »



 
 
Like scratching
an itch
past the point
of satisfaction,
I fall in love
with golden slant
of low-angled light
that floods the field
on this summer night
till every part of me
is raw.

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At Four Forty-Six a.m. When I Can’t Sleep

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on July 7, 2024| 6 Comments »


 
 
The birds are there.
Their predawn songs
float through
the open window,
and I almost hate
in that moment
that beautiful sound
that enters the dream
I am not having
to perch on the branch
of awareness.
I want to ignore
their song.
Want to not know it.
Want to sleep through it.
But I think of my friend
in the Middle East
who wrote me last week.
I doubt there are
any birds left in Gaza,
she said.
Then there is no more sleeping.
Then I lie there and think
how lucky it is
to hear the birds,
though I can no longer tell
if their song is lament
or praise.

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Dairy Queen Drive Thru

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on July 6, 2024| 19 Comments »


 
 
Plain vanilla. Soft serve.
You loved simple things, Dad.
On this day of your birth
I am a pilgrim who arrives
by car at the drive up window
at the closest DQ, an hour away.
There is devotion in the way
I savor the cold. The cake cone
melts on my tongue like a wafer.
There is joy in sampling
what brought you joy.
I ate the whole thing, Dad,
though it was too much.
But I didn’t want to waste
a bit of it. For those few sweet
moments, it tasted like
having you back.

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One Caught

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on July 5, 2024| 6 Comments »

love casts its net—
let’s swim for it
fast as we can

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Dear America,

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on July 3, 2024| 10 Comments »

Dear America,
 
 
today I will parade
not on your main streets
but mostly alone amongst
your aspen groves,
will praise your purple
mountain’s majesty,
your scarlet gilia,
your vast blue spruce.
I will praise the public land
beneath my feet
where someday soon
hawk’s wings will rise
from untouched duff,
and I will glory in
your spacious skies,
how quiet they can be.
America, just today
one of your sons
arrived with a giant
bouquet of rhubarb
he cut from his own wild yard—
a small proof of what
your finest citizens do—
find ways to support
other citizens,
no matter their color,
no matter their stripes.
America, in my one-woman
parade, with every step,
I am cheering for you.

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One Side Effect

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged on July 3, 2024| Leave a Comment »

 
scrubbing off my worry,
my name
washed off, too

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