What is Forgiveness

Drawn to water 

we rarely gaze at our reflection there

seeing instead the line of trees in duplicate

along the farther shore

seeing the stars removed from the sky

to a tableau of sparkling gems 

upon which we float 

The world shows us 

at any moment

even on moonless nights

where to uncover its secrets

It is at the close of day

the tailings

our cocktail hour

where we tally up what was accomplished 

share our bounty

remember why we laugh 

set aside worldly woes 

forgive all shortcomings 

including our own

#NaPoWriMo

Some Days

Some Days, seemingly all the days

There is perfection in the grass

golden light vanishing into blue

pale sky 

touch of wind

no hint of humans

no fences

nor power lines

there are distant cities

somewhere people fighting someone’s war

a boy secreting his father’s shot gun

because it is there

some other child’s parents will cry out

“When will it ever end?”

behind another hill

a solitary woman prepares herbs

wolves find solace together 

black widow spider from last year

makes herself at home on my porch

somehow we are safe together 

#NaPoWriMo

Romance of Place

There are places that make my heart glad

life allows me to return to them

time over time across the span of a life 

San Francisco from a distance 

was to my child’s eyes a city pretending to be a crystal matrix 

in those days all the buildings were squared off on top

in a geologic symmetry 

Be they ferries or houseboats

restaurants rising out of the bay

the allure of being over top of the water

elevates all moods

Sausalito my townish friend

where on the cusp of adulthood

I came in rolled black skirt and poet blouse

girl singing on stage whiskey in hand

I had sloe gin held to no curfew

my girl friends and I out in the night 

held in check by only the ropes of needing these times to go on and on 

In these times there is a we

an us

as two we meet with daughters and friends

we traipse in the falling rain

recognize we need to return

there is a tether here

we need these times to go on and on

#NaPoWriMo

#sausalito

Yearnings and Shadows

Shadows of other lives

creep alongside my path like faithful dogs

in that way of fatigue visions

they appear in the periphery 

not vaguely as you might imagine 

but solemnly insistent

There is a smell of smoke in the air

passing over my face 

a river with snags and mud

impossibly strong current

Does the mind present such visions

for no reason

stray figments of fatal disasters 

the opposite side of the fresh leaves pushing daily out of the ground 

adorning once bare branches

 

The spring garden is a place of yearning

where I wonder why the Bartlett pear

has fifty blossoms and the Anjou none

and the Johnny jump up ripped and eaten all winter by the puppy

remains a plump pillow of blossoms

 

Resilience is key in everything 

hear that, honey crisp apple branch

be like the Fuji

find your blossoms 

dress for the summer that is on the way 

#NaPoWriMo

#dejavu

#lilacsinbloom

They Who Live in the Long Ago

They gather in vivid memory

family of yore

wearing their youth like street clothes 

there were no family pets in that time

maybe a vague cat but 

allergies had their rules

There was no music 

my own sound track

played on a silver transistor radio

Interrupted by the bad news of the day

The agile mind perches precariously 

peering across the chasm of decades

brought back in time by falling water

long fountain droplets

coffee of morning 

rich foamy cup barely sweetened 

taste of home 

gladdened by dogs eager for the fancy blue sky

music playing titled

“Not enough memories”

all this makes me think on shapes of clouds like earthly things

here on the cusp of the day 

#NaPoWriMo

Fields of Flowers

Morning belongs to the dogs 

they claim it before there is light in the sky

today it is the back yard they choose

it is a quieter place 

there is furniture and a hiding place

Signs of spring resurrection 

in this garden

put on hold by April freeze

we remind ourselves the oak

becomes mighty through perseverance 

the cottonwoods wait for some sustained warmth

The relentless passing time slows a few moments

I remember trying years past

to plant the seeds of faith and belonging 

for my little girls

like much in life experience 

they come upon their own cradle of welcoming spirit 

entire fields of poppies and lupine 

trembling masses of wild mustard

heads of red clover and dandelion 

celebrate the snow and rain 

I thought I saw a pileated woodpecker

red crest and white throat 

but they do not come here

sometimes I have mistaken finches

for cedar waxwings 

The world tends to brighten between my eyes and my knowing 

not as brilliant as some

for whom any hazard has its repair in the offing

nature takes its course 

we celebrate

#NaPoWriMo

Tetons

 The tales of long ago

from when there was magic upon the earth

come this way with dragon breath

laying thick fog upon the byways 

to obscure the path

mermaid’s pearls on silver strings 

lay beneath the reflections on the sea

treasure meant for those few who meet the challenge laid out 

in their moment of conception 

here you see

the spine of the dragon itself

sleeping these past centuries 

until some day its roar will awaken the 

guardians 

of the chalice of being

#NaPoWriMo