Honestly, the other day in a really long line at the grocery store, I ended up talking with the woman behind me, the woman in front of me, and the checker gal. We all had so much fun together, laughing and complimenting one another. I walked outside to put my groceries away and thought, “What would be so wrong with telling them I’d like to know them more and hang out?” Well, it would be weird, of course. Continue reading Always, “Forever!”
For most of us, there is only the unattended
Moment, the moment in and out of time,
The distraction fit, lost in a shaft of sunlight,
The wild thyme unseen, or the winter lightning
Or the waterfall, or music heard so deeply
That it is not heard at all, but you are the music
While the music lasts.
*T.S. Eliot, line from The Dry Salvages, out of Four Quartets Continue reading Music Heard so Deeply, That it is Not Heard at All
Inspired by dVerse Poets Pub Quadrille Challenge – a 44 word poem of any style. https://dversepoets.com They may send a shudder down our spines in all their grotesque glory. They can appeal to our dark side, our burning desire for Dracula’s romance and black lace. Or as they sit covered in snow, we sip our coffee and shiver with them. Continue reading Shivering Gargoyle
There is wisdom in these woods. It is time to begin again. Continue reading Clearing Space
“Where can I pick up your book?” you ask. Here are some happy links for you – it’s available online wherever you would normally order books (most likely). Bloomsbury Books in Ashland – – Powell’s in Portland – – Strand Books in New York – – Barnes & Noble – – Amazon I got to see her triumph and fall apart. I wept and cheered … Continue reading “Days of Soup and Holler,” ~ My New Book!
A little memory – a treasure to cherish. Rummaging in the Antique Store with my boys, looking through playthings of the past. They call me to try on a beautiful faux fur, and it fits, and it’s glorious, and I am the toast of the town. The large Islander man at the back counter with the massive smile and the tiny woman wearing all … Continue reading Sweetness or Stuff
It all started with Harold & the Purple Crayon. My youngest and I read the story together in front of a blazing fire and he said he wanted to have this book in his collection someday when he grows up and moves out. I told him he would need his own copy because there are some books I will always need to have on my … Continue reading The Stories of our Lives
When something takes on otherworldly proportions because of its simplicity and beauty. Continue reading Restored
The conflict happens because she’s right and she loves you. And yet, we strive against all her rightness, her great ideas, Her prodding us into things that challenge and define us. She made memories for us, with the books she read us, The games she played, the places she took us, The worlds she opened up to us, The things she made it … Continue reading Mothers
I have heard of the dance of Eagles mating.
I have seen the statue of talons out sharp;
a fierce battle and free fall – wings and bodies
tumbling over one another as they drop to earth. Continue reading Bared Claws
There is so much poetry in dance, in the way bodies sidle up to one another and barely touch and then move away, only to come back around and move together suggestively, still holding back, still mostly eyes, still only hints at what could happen if both bodies fully engaged. There is love and loss and poise and danger. There is heart on sleeve, and … Continue reading Poetry in Music and Dance
“At this point in his life, he hadn’t started inhabiting his work, like he did later.” Continue reading Inhabit
I am angry and I feel slighted and perhaps, I’m being childish; but I want to pout and stamp my foot and behave inappropriately. At the same time, I know this is beneath me, that I can and should rise above. The issue at hand is of no consequence. I am literally upset over nothing, a minor inconvenience, but my pride is hurt. Even if the issue was … Continue reading Ferocious Calm
These are the tiny books Bean has made for me in the last week. The Best Mom book is 22 pages with my name written on every page, and as you can see, just larger than a quarter. The other book with stars and moon and hearts on the outside is blank inside and he wants me to fill each page with a Poem. Eh-hem. … Continue reading Filling Small Pages with Enormous Words of Love
#blacklivesmatter Continue reading She Thought Perhaps Azalea
This morning I woke up with a song in my head, and it’s a good one. It’s the one I blast in my car on the way to Poetry Slam. It’s the one I sing along to and throw little girl-power dance parties to in the parking lot outside the pizza place where the Slam is held once a month. My fellow poet ladies … Continue reading The Soundtrack of our Lives
Or rather, we have a friend coming over this afternoon, and so the boys are cleaning, and I am cleaning, and we are all getting distracted by the things we are supposed to be putting away. I’m straightening my bedside table, and finding books of poetry that should be leafed through if only for a moment after I’ve dusted them, before stacking them neatly … Continue reading Because Cleaning is so Distracting
What does it mean to sink down deep Into who you are and speak your truth And be yourself, and have your own Moment of HOWL, to sound your own Barbaric Yawp over the rooftops of the world? It may mean to say without thinking, Recite without reading, or read Without looking up once because The words on the page and you are one, … Continue reading Sink Down Deep
It seems as if the geese could bump into each other in this mist, each screeching into the void sounding out to the others calling the way forward southward, onward toward the next season, the next warm nest. I can’t see to the end of my driveway, fog hanging in white, billowing curtains, pulling me into the story, some elegant myth, where rooms are … Continue reading Days of Soup and Holler
Did I ever show you this handmade gift from Benjamin this year? Talk about a gift that went straight to my heart. I have never cried more over a present in my life. That he knew my deepest desire, and created something to represent me getting that artistic need fulfilled… If you look closely, there are tubes up on the stage to put each of … Continue reading Open-Mic Poetry Gathering
These photos are all from the 2009 show, Strengthen Me with Raisins. Back in 2007, I performed my very first Poetry Show as part of the Rogue Festival in Fresno, CA. I was 39 years old, and I floated away from my first Standing Ovation, not physically touching the ground. These are the shows I did back in California. 2007 – Come Now I Will Test … Continue reading Throw-Back Thursday: Another Year, Another Show
There is a picture circulating of a little girl in an Iraqi orphanage, who misses her mother, so she drew a chalk outline of her mom, curled up within the lines and fell asleep inside her mother. This stopped me cold. I don’t ever want to be too tired to tell a bedtime story again, for as long as I live, for as long as my … Continue reading Heartbeat – Poetry for dverse
In the dverse poets pub tonight, the topic is trees and Under The Canopy, which fills me with love and light. That is what we do! We care for trees. (A memory from long ago when I was in school – and now I have my own!) Across a field from the dorms, a hike, up a hill, and lost, or nearly, we trudged until … Continue reading Picnic Tree
Sometimes I shatter; break into pieces and scatter across the floor. My tiny shards reflect light in odd patterns on the wall and once again I am something shiny. I remember a spark, I remember a brilliance, I point with awe. We do this dance of bright things to dung hills and back again; excitement and despair. The mysteries, the mundane, … Continue reading Downbeats of Defiance
If I could see what you see; the finished project from a pile of scraps. The angles and lines and tiny details, wheels within wheels that leap from your mind; the magic you create. I run along beneath you as you soar – holding ropes or guide lines. Trying to offer some balance; tiny morsels of grammar tucked in between your gears and pulleys, A … Continue reading I Run Along Beneath You
