It never leaves, this ache. I can press it down, punch at it like bread dough, pat it into a nice ball, and cover it up. But still, sometimes it spills. I think of Elizabeth, barren in her old age. Heart and arms heavy with the ache of it. As time passed, maybe she […]
The Gift of Paying Attention
I don’t remember now when I first started to pay attention. When I first picked up the baby camera and started to see through a new lens. Took those first steps. When I started to look for details or to see in a new light. My husband, ever patient, waits as I trail behind […]
Five Minute Friday: I Blame Trust
I blame trust. I leaned into it. Silly goose. It burned. Cut deep. Shattered dreams. “Close the doors,” I prayed. They opened wide. If I had not trusted, things might be different. Or not. Maybe worse. There’s no way to know. No way to know the rest of the story until the end. Were […]
Five Minute Friday: The Reality of Grief
I flip through the pages of Time Magazine until she breezes into the waiting room to invite me back. “How are you today?” Her eyes sparkle, and the corners crinkle. I flash a big smile. “Fine. Just fine!” I climb up into the chair, and she pins the bib around my neck. She flips […]
The Fragrance of Possibility
The world rests white this morning. A fresh palette waiting to be color splashed. When spring unleashes all soft and vivid. There are colors, Jodi commented, that we can’t see. Colors we can’t duplicate. Colors that will never grace a mixer. Kathleen talks about the excitement of a new box of Crayola crayons, becomes […]
Your Toothbrush is on Fire!
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. So it was the first thing that popped into my head when I read Lisa-Jo’s word prompt today: awake. I can’t really do the story justice, though. What would be best is for me to video my Sissy telling it. That’s enough to make the tears flow and […]
I Want You to Roar
A free-flying heart and mind and fingers for five short minutes. No second-guessing. No over-thinking. No editing. For Lisa Jo. On the word prompt . . . ROAR! Ready . . . set . . . GO! I want you to roar. To sink your teeth into the back of my neck and give […]
Lacustrine Heart
Unravel the day in solferino rivers that flow to Eden’s cor. Unzip my skin, unwrap lacustrine heart beside the Horseshoe, my world’s waters, and let me simply drink of Adam’s ale. Inspired by the morning sky. Not adequately captured by The Droid. In response to an invitation by Every Day Poems on its Facebook wall to create […]
To My Mother: A Villanelle
I held you captive in my sight while evil fingers burrowed deep, and I heard you crying in the night. While you focused on the light and pumpkin-apple deer stood watch I held you captive in my sight. You pulled strings, made magic sleight with finger-writing in the air, but I heard you crying in […]
Connected to This Place
A quick five minutes for Lisa Jo on the prompt connected. GO! We will commit her ashes this afternoon. And I will go home tomorrow. Back to my husband’s home. The place where he is connected. Where his family came over 100 years ago. I will be buried there. Next to his parents. In […]
