More Love, This Loss
you in your part of this story write the scene
inside family inside grief's space
we don't ask but feel the question
where to put the love that went there now?
a melody in the key of loss
disappears into thin air like a wish
and still the circle holds
more love
pouring in
With My Eyes Closed
the horses appear just before sleep
i turn from the model-t, let the crank dangle
make a poem make a poem make a poem
but all the driving has left me dumb
so i stand among the mares
who whicker and nuzzle my face and neck
i know i will never drive
again
Summer Poem
to call it back, to fold that memory
up like a picnic blanket
& carry it home full
of sand, cracker crumbs & sticky
with red Hi-C. Summer days
sun-stunned lake lovers we
waited dutifully 30 minutes
after eating -- salami sandwiches
crinkled chips, two dark purple
little plums each -- to charge back
into chill flat water gleaming like
a tarnished tea service tray
this dream of those days slathered
in CopperTone come what may.
My Aunt Refused to Cook It
out back to look
at the dead fawn in the shed
rigored and spotted
on its back
legs bent in
the air as if
striding as if about
to leap
no bigger
than their irish setter
her dad my uncle
had shot
that baby
an accident
and brought
it home
on purpose
why?
didn't want
to waste
the meat
cousin said
i made that week
for uncle
seven mouths
to feed but
fawn meat
we girls vowed
not to eat
and went to sleep
on hunger strike
that left him
livid
A Covenant People
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| Image by Marthalsermon Art |
Inspired by and snipped from Isaiah 49:8-15
What My Friend Did a Few Months Later
she took a picture of him to the bar on their wedding anniversary
on the chair beside her
ordered sausage pizza
two glasses of chianti
did her best
not to cry
the bar man who had known them both and wouldn't
let her pay lifted the other glass
to hers in honor
of the day
late afternoon
patio
perfect weather day
a marTINY in hand
because I can never
finish
a whole one
and
an owl
right there
in the neighbor's
just leafing
pin oak
bwohoohoohoo
spring serenade
oh! i am ever
yours
sipping from
your perfect
hands
what
your hands
have made