Grief is palpable
hearts made of soft wool;
natural,
real,
felted by tears,
made stronger,
tightening bonds
across miles
circumventing the globe.
Likes on the blog
string together the yarns
of hearts attuned.
We touch.
We share.
We still care
enough to like.
Enough to tell each other
You are heard.
You are loved.
You are heart
of my heart.
We are in this
together.
Filed under POETRY, Uncategorized
Already forgotten bell curves
overcome by spikes and pikes
carrying virus loads
up the nose.
No more waves
of predictability
nor general systems theories
of how things go.
if there are rules of pandemic,
they are rules lost in the mystery,
lost to a history
passed by and past off
by those who scoff
their vulnerability.
Roller coaster rides and pandemics
take away my breath.
Sudden falls after steep climbs
drop my stomach to my toes.
Harsh and sudden turns of phrase
bring fear of death
around each unexpected curve.
One does not mind a five minute ride,
hands held high on final descent;
with a grudging stop and final flop.
The ride softly ends as riders depart.
Unsteady feet steady once more
ready to explore the carousel, and bumper cars,
cotton candy and games of chance.
A three year ride is way too scary
and leaves us wary
of how, if at all, it will end.
With a bang or a whimper?
Or, a sullen long simmer, fall after fall
along rails beginning to wear ?
The ride must continue until all are loaded
with a vaccination, or two, or three;
maybe, more even than four.
The tickets were free,
but too many refused to take a shot
at ending the ride on time.
More climbs, more falls, more curves
until we are all sick to death or dying.
Filed under POETRY, Uncategorized
What light becomes
most fashionably bright
to rid us of the shadow of night?
Who decides
the cast, the angle
shining upon each bead and bangle?
Are we so transparent
no shadow shows,
willing to follow anyone who glows?
How have we not learned
that the light of day
best shows the way?
Fireflies dance around the darkness
distracting us from what matters
while truth lies shattered.
Talking points flicker
all day and night
while truth hides out of sight.
News becomes entertainment,
bread and circuses
to detain us.
News streams the highways
with fast-moving high lights
missing the truth by inches along the way.
Such roads cannot be safely crossed.
How do we get to the other side?
By stopping traffic at our own loss?
Filed under Uncategorized
I don’t understand poems,
or words, or chatter.
How do they form like loose clay
around the mold of earthly matter?
Words cast up their account
of what lies in the gut
and rise to the mouth
to utter and strut.
Do we have no power
over what we say ?
Are we merely overpowered
by a shower of words at play?
Somedays, words are so strong
they insist and persist, bursting the cork.
Other days, words are so weak
pulling them out is too much work.
The worst thing is not silence.
The worst thing is a paragraph
dragged out with violence.
Today, all words can do is laugh.
Filed under Uncategorized
Need is alive and well
clumped, clutching the belly
where it often dwells.
Need rises heavily
and steadily
devours the will
posed on the tongue
fearing disclosure
until the body is wrung
out.
Out of time.
Out of strength.
Out of courage
to speak one’s mind.
Then, Need sinks below
The threshold;
travels down the spine
all the way to one’s toes
which curl against the road
before starting to run
away with thoughts.
Need circles around
and around
and around
Need cannot be out-run.
Need always finds a way
to be heard.
Filed under POETRY
I stopped the chide
against cloudy skies
dropped into the river basin
dug out by ancient glaciers.
This is the place of safety from the world
of western fires
of eastern floods
of northern blizzards
of southern tornadoes.
In the middle we lie low
where clouds settle un-seamed
to protect us from extremes.
I miss the sun.
The sun is fun
until it rapes the atmosphere
stripping it bare
Clouds clothe the Ohio Valley.
I welcome clouds’ embrace.
Filed under POETRY
A life of pretense
may be the only defense
against our greatest fears.
Truth lies undercover
lest we discover
we may not survive.
Committees and newsrooms hold tight
to the knowledge
which would allow us to acknowledge
the big spenders and pretenders
of climate and democracy,
the hidden autocracy.
Pretense is a fist clutched tight
by the side
ready to fight
once fear takes flight.
Do not be fooled.
Hang tight.
Filed under POETRY
A charming abuser draws ever near,
Invades our homes, workplaces and schools.
We plead. We beg. We offer rewards.
Leave us unharmed.
The abuser tells stories
To our family and friends
Of our perfidy and foolishness,
Pealing away all self-defense
And defense by those who should care.
The abuser threatens
Each breath we take,
Taking our bodies as his own
And filling hospital beds
with our battered bodies.
The law steps back to allow
His plunder, his blunder, his smirks.
Oh how it hurts
This worsening abuse,
Forming a union of abusers
Under banners of ant-vax, anti-mask,
Patriots, Republicans, conservatives
Powered by money and influence
And cowardice.
Filed under POETRY
Will you write to me
Of fallow fields
Or bounteous yields
Of herb and spice
To brighten the palate
Or bury the dead?
Which is better stated
In a letter created
To satisfy the need
To get a bead
On where we are headed?
What would your words mean to us?
What would it matter?
Keep your words off the page
Or I ‘ll be mad as a hatter
Before all is said
And I am done.
No letters, please.
No promises.
No warnings.
Better to believe it all
Will look better tomorrow.
Filed under POETRY
Morning Walk
I walk along the paths intersecting the nearby ponds; their waters green and brown and cold. The trees are bare now, enabling an appreciation of the variety show put on by the dancing branches.
Tiny birds hide in plain sight like pibe cones strung along bare branches. Their quiet chirps give them away. I stop to be certain if what I see. I delight in their creativity.
A black squirrel, his mouth stuffed with a ball of dead grass clippings and leaves, scampers across my path and scurries to the top of the pine tree to my right. Temperatures plunged last night, and his nest is in need of more insulation. He lacks my gas furnace to warm his home.
Two Mallard pairs swim with pond’s wind-whipped current. The brightly colored males bright against the grey sky and brown water. Their brown and grey-striped wives seem tiny and complacent by their sides. Some things are the same in every society; even within the duck society.
The Canadian geese are absent from the ponds today. They have taken up residence in the intersection of nearby streets, reducing traffic to a crawl with their unconcern for moving vehicles and sounding horns. The water is warmer in the shallow puddles and they are thirsty. They are breakfasting on the berries and blown to the ground by yesterday’s heavy rains, and on the bugs burrowed beneath the leaves left lying in the gutter to decay.
Quiet has descended here as a blanket to our cold thoughts. Cooled by the icy winds drifting south across the continent. Creating discontent in the grey dawn. I walk on.
There are no others on the paths today, not even a single dog walker. I linger in the cold, alone and watching for signs of life other than my own. It is here among my sister earth and brother clouds. All is well. Time to go home.
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Filed under COMMENTARY
Tagged as cold, morning, nature, walking, weather, wind