Uncle Joe had a photographic memory. Things like birth and death dates hung like jewels on the many-branched family tree he tended. In random conversation with those among us still living, people and their dates were important to him as were their places. His mind held a map of world facts & histories, wars … Continue reading Stranger Things
Peanut Butter Toast
1. You come back around to it, a simple pleasure. Peanut Butter on toast, made with your own two hands. No, you did not grind the nuts, or the wheat for bread, but you learned later in life how to make a lazy sourdough loaf. The toast, well it elevates things. Keep it simple. Eat … Continue reading Peanut Butter Toast
Unnamed
My oldest daughter shared a dream once in which she met an older sister and felt herself displaced and downhearted. She’d known for years there were others before. Her dream made me weep all over again for the unnamed unborn. We pulled 5 kittens from an oil drum in the barn today, their yellow mother … Continue reading Unnamed
EarthDay
I Remember your last birthday? We celebrated you on Resurrection Sunday as you, too, had been brought back from the brink to love us again. II Once I lay down in sweetgrass still enough to feel sparrow’s wings brush my cheek- so still I heard wild violets untuck then nod to the sun. III We … Continue reading EarthDay
Road Trip Shanty
We rose with the sun, ate a honey bun for the fair morning was a beckoning one and the purple fields and greening leaves ‘gainst a great blue sky above Yo Ho the open road Cups a-brim with our cups-a Joe Hi Ho press the pedal low Where the center line don’t show Road up … Continue reading Road Trip Shanty
Sonnet Seeking Sun
When I consider darker days I’m tempted sore against the light My Quaker forebearers clear of sight Might shake their heads, avert their gaze There is such sin as slothful laze Of inner gifts that languish while Powers that be ingest their bile a sad refrain, our wretched ways are amplified against the dark and … Continue reading Sonnet Seeking Sun
Saturday Poem
Saturdays are promises to myself I cannot keep. The barge in my backyard carries coal and candy. Spring violet sweetflower scents the air as your tears, audible over the airwaves, show a dreadful face of grief. We’ll meet somewhere in the middle of the week, Kate, and I’ll hoist Cleveland and all your homeless children … Continue reading Saturday Poem
O Holy Night
We mustn’t laugh. O Holy Night, when year after year the unholy octave looms, then tanks as a warbling soloist, who has only just rushed to the church after setting out soup and Christmas Eve charcuterie, with a long night of wrapping still ahead, straightens her robe smooths her hair, steps forward with the organist … Continue reading O Holy Night
Triolet For Clearing
These heaps of trinket memories Your bracelets, blushers, long delayed Tossed away in waves and flurries Rooms of trinket memories I move around in waves and flurries These lettings go so long delayed No end of trinket memories Your girl life earrings well arrayed
Underground
morning gauze hides what wants to stay hidden debris of a mother’s memory footsteps of dead fathers a seed in the forest fragrance of love astonishing blend of our killing stockpiles essential flavors travel the underground keep us alive
Early Morning Poems 