What There Isn’t and What There Is

There is no deep forest to explore No high desert chalky sunset colors purple and peach No great expanse of lawn dotted with morning deer grazing No gardener’s palette and beyond a creek or the staying summer sea There is only a yard surrounded by a decrepit fence creaking in the night breeze a hole dug for a pond full of weeds a few tomatoes But the winter compost is rich, black and hot and steams through...read more

Just For A Moment

Just for a moment Or an afternoon I’d like to be ten again To be sitting in My grandmother’s kitchen Feeling uneasy With the immense serenity Of her place Hearing her tell me I’m a good girl I’m good I’m beautiful I’d believe her If I could I wouldn’t think She’s just saying that Because she’s my grandmother And she’s afraid for me I’d let it come...read more

I Don’t Know What To Call You

I am the shadowy figure in dreams of people who have seen me drive by or spoken to me in the grocery store and I seem to say something quite directly to someone and it just slips right past their awake mind and into their dreaming mind unnoticed, undetected or ignored, maybe unwanted. And I wonder if I’m alive and I can almost feel a hint of fear and sadness that I am not more fully here but it seems as...read more

Partly Cloudy

More rain on the way And I can’t feel anything but grateful for it Because of three years of drought Of being careful and not wasting Which of course meant no running through the sprinkler For the kids and no water balloon tosses Alex came home In the middle of the day And we sat together knee to knee Leaning in And came to understand some things And those were things such as There are no guarantees and...read more

Blue Yes

As I look into the blue yes Of the face of my son He is talking Words like flight, like running and jumping in – Cannonball splash I feel myself depart, searching With swelling desperation The desperation Searching for a way to convey I love you Without guilt Without it being a burden But I am lost Because the desperation will be in it And the guilt I am mute How to convey The feeling that...read more