Continuing to celebrate poetry in April. . . One hundred dark-haired ladies in red silk kimonos twirl in the foggy sky between wakefulness and sleep, Swinging from each finger: one thousand origami cranes, a rainbow on each hand. In the cool silk moment they float before the sun burns through the mist. Delicate as balloons, … Continue reading Prayer for Peace
April is National Poetry Month! So here's one of my earlier pieces to celebrate the power of the Word. Words jingle in my ears like pennies in the pocket of my navy wool pea coat. When I was ten, one word would buy a licorice whip red or black or a thick block of Bazooka … Continue reading Just One
This poem continues my theme of December oranges, but also serves as a holiday warning: don't let this season try your patience and drive you to exhaustion! Remember, the smartest thing to do on the longest night of the year is sleep. If I can pluck the moon from the sky I may find it’s … Continue reading Don’t Eat the Moon
This summer I’ve been re-reading one of my favorite spiritual books, Why People Don’t Heal And How They Can, written by medical intuitive Caroline Myss, back in 1997. The book covers many topics, but the parts I relate to most strongly—as a cradle Catholic--are the parallels she draws between the seven Chakras and the seven Sacraments. I decided … Continue reading Law of Gravity
Elusive feet stretching away from the rest of my body you are a mysterious duo. Earthbound like two turtles you spread your toes wide and flat refusing to conform to narrow confines of stylish pumps and spiked heels. You are stubborn rebels; I cannot trust you. Perched on the edge of a cliff … Continue reading My Elusive Feet
To finish off our National Poetry Month celebration, I offer a more recent creation of mine. Thanks for reading! I made that girl, but is she grateful? No. True, I drove her to the edge of consciousness dumped her on a shore peopled with past failures and traumas, to the lip of a river … Continue reading My Insomnia Gossips About Me Behind My Back
Another original poem for National Poetry Month! This week's offering is a tale of my California childhood, back when the rain was plentiful enough that we'd often watch the winter river rising against the side of the levee. Life on the Flood Plain Nestled in the south elbow of the levee we are sheltered … Continue reading Life on the Flood Plain
Another classic poem of mine for National Poetry Month. Flow She rises through silt and sand seeps through cracks in asphalt to suckle fox tails and dandelions sprouting wild on levee roads. Her power courses through me like moon pulling water to sea rushing by pear orchards carving jagged leaf veins in my belly … Continue reading Flow
April is National Poetry Month! I've dug down deep for this one, written for my Mom at least 30 years ago when she was the age that I am now. For My Mother and Other Collectors of Strays I want you to contradict me. When I shiver in my cavernous apartment complaining that autumn … Continue reading For My Mother and Other Collectors of Strays
i Blades not sharp or brutal but tender and yielding to the weight of my bare feet sprout on this thin layer of soil that hugs the Donegal coast. I grasp a clump of green shoots in my fist: does that make it mine or does it belong to a middle-aged man with a piece … Continue reading Immigrant
