Every year on Pearl Harbor Day, I like to tell the story of my late mother, who was picking oranges with her best friend Louise on December 7th, 1941, when they got the news that the Japanese had bombed the US Naval Base in Hawaii. Every year after, she picked the first orange of the … Continue reading Juicy
Greetings, dear readers and friends! I hope you are all enjoying a bit of summer fun-- swimming, hiking, travel, plus homegrown tomatoes on your sandwiches, strawberries on your breakfast cereal, peaches in your ice cream maybe --I hope you are blessed to have such options. And I hope you have the time to lie in … Continue reading Crazy Days/Crazy Nights
This poem was created from a favorite prompt from Two Sylvia's Press, where you imagine a famous person, living or dead, comes to your door and gives you a gift. Virginia Woolf arrivedlate yesterday afternoonto bring methe complete collectionof novels and poemsthat were createdby women too busyto write them down.Quite a quandary, she said,randomly opening … Continue reading River Book
Mantilija Poppydisguises herselfas a fried eggsunny side upwith broad white petalscircling a yolky yellow center.You are the very essence of spring, Mantilija.Assertive, persistentyou spread your tendrilsindiscriminatelythrough every unoccupiedinch of dirtin the gardenundermining the innocent annuals,overtaking the low slungperennials.You unrepentant youthyou turn every headattract every honeybeeconvince us you areas large as a star.Why, why, why, Mantilija,Why?You … Continue reading Mantilla Poppy
Written with this prompt: work in the names of magazines PLUS use the name of a magazine article as your title. I put 15 magazines in this piece. Can you find them all? When they tell youthey have Better Homes and Gardensthan you do,just walk into the Sunset.When they tell youthey were late leaving you … Continue reading Five Ways to Spot a Narcissist–PLUS Five Ways to Create Clear Boundaries
To conclude National Poetry Month, I feel blessed to share with you this poem. I wrote it many years ago, a love letter to my home town, and I was elated when it was chosen for an anthology put out by our city's first official poet laureates, Dennis Schmitz and Viola Weinberg. It was 2001, … Continue reading Delta Breeze
Another poem for National Poetry Month The fabric of night unwinds like a bolt of dark blue velvet across a clean white sheet of daylight. At Equinox the corners of the blankets meet the Sun and the Earth stretch together and the moon is swept with rangy branches of Easter Broom. Yellow blossoms scatter across … Continue reading Easter Broom
It's April, and that means National Poetry Month! Here is a poem I wrote many years ago, when I was a young Feminist, invoking the Moon Goddess to guide women as we reclaim our ancient power. Now I am an old Feminist, and feel this same need--more than ever. There is also a poignant note … Continue reading Harvest
A special poem for Valentine's Day! Love is an avocadoshaped like the human heart,and the human heartis a pumpthat sends the blood reelingin ways gravity alonecannot do.But the human heart is also a metaphorfor the depth of human emotion andfor something more that cannot beexpressed directlyand so we callon this poor overworkedhuman organand on avocadosto … Continue reading Love is an Avocado
Fifty-something years ago in a Catholic school not so far away, the nuns used to read to us from The Lives of the Saints. St. Brigid was always my favorite, but not because she lived in my matrilineal ancestral home of Ireland. No, she was my favorite because she had the best stories. Celtic history … Continue reading Happy St. Brigid’s Feast Day!
