What an Aging Mother Wants Something’s left her. The reserve, The stoicism with which She’s faced her life Have fallen away Like so many Deteriorating bricks. Now she speaks openly, Emotionally, W...Read More
Retrospect Sure. Looking back, you tell yourself, you would have done things differently. You should have tried harder, been more patient. You could have done more. But retrospect is an observation to...Read More
This I need to remember When I am looking back from the perch of old age, this is what I need to remember: Every morning in the spring, summer and fall, I would get my coffee and notebook and sit on t...Read More
Second Child of My Second Child When your older sister was born, we had no idea how completely her presence would transform everything. Compelled by an astonishing love, we rebuilt our lives and resha...Read More
Missed Boat There was a time when I looked at other people’s expansive homes, their accomplishments, their travels, and I got the sense that we had somehow missed the boat. We hadn’t gotten news t...Read More
A Personal History Of Chores When I first came into the world, my needs were met by others and when they weren’t, I simply screamed. Sadly, I had no appreciation of my privileged status. Soon enough...Read More
Heaven Maybe it’s a place like I see sometimes in my dreams. We are all children about four years old and we are playing the way children this age do- with total abandon in the moment. Running, clim...Read More
Elegy To My Father I My dreams took years to comprehend your death. Each night they found you Sipping coffee in the hard kitchen chair Lost in a book Children’s chaos somehow tuned out. Your ...Read More
The other night, I decided that I needed a break from Facebook. I finally hit the tipping point and could no longer absorb one more minute of the hatred and vitriol brought out by this election. Every...Read More
Savor So many days I have glimpsed this kind of calm, longed for it, then rushed off to something more frenzied. Today, I live within it. Hidden on this porch, I am surrounded everywhere by green leav...Read More
Morning Minds In the morning, I wake up Mourning doves coo me awake With a list of tasks A new day. Running through my head. I think I will sit I had better get them written down For a while Before th...Read More
The Room When I was a child, I closed all the doors into the hallway to make a new room, dark and empty, the center of everything. I searched closets and attic spaces, looking for somewhere I had neve...Read More
BIG THING I grew up believing That there was some BIG THING That I was supposed to do To make the world A better place. Becoming an adult Was all about figuring out What that BIG THING was. Then, if I...Read More
Saying Goodbye Can one ever really learn To take it as it comes, To savor the moment When what one loves Is so temporary? Just yesterday The trees were green, Bursting with life. But today, They stare...Read More
Ideas Some people believe We are surrounded by ghosts, Old spirits who hang on, Wanting what they didn’t get- Revenge, Lost love, Closure. I don’t believe in ghosts. We will all leave behind A lif...Read More
Every so often, I plan to post works by some of my favorite writers. I enjoy picking one poet and reading their work for a week or two. Immersing myself like this, I learn so much about the poet and...Read More
Pace Imagine the sound of a cloud moving leisurely across the sky, a pine tree’s imperceptible growth compelled by its longing for light, a gentle rain’s slow slide down the pane, the sigh ali...Read More
Home I like to be The first one home In the afternoon To find the house Silently waiting. The books rest on the shelf, Leaning gently to the left. The table holds the candlestick Benevolently in its p...Read More
River You could come to this place and discover nothing if you bring along your own noise, your own chaos. Because, like so much that is sacred, silence is the only entryway. So we leave it all behind...Read More
Passing So many similarities— The way they sleep so much, Struggle to open their eyes, Their gaunt frames, Flailing limbs, Iridescently thin skin, Shallow, rapid breath. They are so delicate, These ...Read More
Staring When I was young, I used to watch people closely. Limp with fascination, knees locked, mouth gaping, I would slowly leave self-consciousness behind and stare. Entranced, I took a person in com...Read More