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Posts Tagged ‘ordinary’

It’s the Forgettable Moments I Miss

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on October 22, 2024| 10 Comments »


 
 
I want to be in the garden
with you again,
hands in the dirt,
maybe listening
to cottonwood leaves
spreading rumors
of fall, but maybe
not even listening.
I want a moment
so mundane, just
pulling bindweed,
nodding and humming absently
as you talk about race cars,
a moment so unmemorable
I forget how damn precious
every single moment is;
I want a moment I take
for granted, want to
be bored or even fussy
standing beside you,
the beets too small
to harvest, your voice
rambling on about pole positions
and pit stop strategies,
and me utterly clueless
I would ever look back
and long to hear you
wax on about balancing fuel loads,
worn tires, soft compounds,
anything, anything at all.
 

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If It Were in a Book, I’d Write Praise All Over the Margins

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on March 28, 2024| 14 Comments »

 
No day but this day
with its sloppy snow
and the rabbits living
beneath the porch and
the single easter lily
that opened this afternoon,
its too-sweet perfume spilling
all over my thoughts
as I made my daughter
a warm homemade syrup
of lemon and cherry
and honey for her cough
before I snuggled into
her rumpled bed and put
my cheek to her fevered head,
no holier place in all the world
except every other place
where life is honest
and love has dared—
and how is it sometimes
we can be so aware
that every little thing,
from the cold breeze
coming through the open window
to the cat hair that seems
to be everywhere, yes
every single little thing
is treasure.

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A Humble Aliveness

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on March 21, 2024| 10 Comments »

Someday I will miss a morning like this,
when I rise in the dark to slice apples
and scrape ice from the windshield
so I can drive my daughter to school.
My husband in the kitchen making toast.
My tea warm. Raisins sweet.
The backyard geese a riotous racket
and a black-haired cat who wants nothing
more than to nudge my chin with her chin.
A morning so ordinary it would never dream
of flaunting its gold—no, it just spends it
on the light that streams in through the window
to land on my shoulder as if tapping me
to say, this is it. This. This.

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May 4, 2022

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on May 4, 2022| 14 Comments »

It wasn’t that anything special happened today.
No holiday. No giant rainbow. No astonishment
of bloom. Though in years past we would have said,
May the Fourth be with you.
It wasn’t that I made an extraordinary meal,
though you did love the thin-sliced roasted potatoes
I made tonight, and they did turn out good,
slightly bubbled and browned.
It wasn’t that there was a bobcat on the porch.
And the morels aren’t out just yet.
And Mother’s Day is not until this weekend.
But I missed you. I missed you not because it was
the first May 4 since you were gone, I missed you
simply because you are gone. Sometimes,
getting through any ordinary day
is like trying to play Scrabble alone.
It’s like singing a lullaby to an empty bed.
It’s like not making your lunch.
It’s like not worrying how you’re doing.
It’s like lighting a candle and letting it burn to the end.

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But You Thought You Knew What a Sign Looked Like

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on February 6, 2018| 8 Comments »

 

 

Open your hands, lift them.

            —William Stafford, “Today”

 

 

The parking space beside the store when you

were late. The man who showed up just in time

to hold the door when you were juggling five

big packages. The spider plant that grew—

though you forgot to water it. The new

nest in the tree outside your window. Chime

of distant church bells when you’re lonely. Rhyme

of friendship. Apples. Sky a trove of blue.

 

And who’s to say these miracles are less

significant than burning bushes, loaves

and fishes, steps on water. We are blessed

by marvels wearing ordinary clothes—

how easily we’re fooled by simple dress—

Oranges. Water. Leaves. Bread. Crows.

 

 

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