February 2025

 

"...where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy..."

I'm not suggesting that Saint Francis wrote these words; I don't know if anyone knows who did, but long ago, we aspired to love, faith, hope, light, and joy, and these sentiments, and more, hold true now. In this time and place of much confusion and many unknowns, these will be our essentials. It's challenging to stay on a path when the ground shakes, but our hearts know where to lead us: Listen carefully. Walk lightly. Hold on tightly. 

xo

Mid-January 2025

Mid-January 2025

December 2024

December:  The first 

I'm the first to awake
 sky dark * stars bright
my wishes came true

*****
 the beds in the house 
filled with loved ones
there is time and pies

flowers from Victoria

​xo

 

November 2024

 

November 2024

And just like that, it's the last day of October

the sun rises and offers a rainbow

the horizon murky with rain and wonder

as I try to capture moments of joy

in other rooms, in other states

there are ones I call Love(d)

I think back on the numerous times

we called through the walls of our home

 R A I N B O W, come quick 

and how we stood together, looking out 

to the magic we held within

xo

October (almost) 2024

...and don't you, too, wonder?

what would happen if...

spread your body out on the sand,

allow your heart to open, close your eyes,

 remember a time that took your breath

and sent it on the wings of birds

 albino pigeon or one of the two egrets 

standing tall near the empty bridge

shrouded in ocean mist and salt air

what if you created a new you

xo

 September 2024

Oddly or not, I'm quite enamored by dying plants:

the way they let go quietly and how I continue 

to offer them water and carry them from 

sunlight to darkness

wishing for one more day

thanking them for beauty

I've always been in love with the unfolding

tulips as they surrendered their golden inners

turning themselves inside out & upside down

colors that fade & fall: I saved spent blossoms

kept them in glass jars and on windowsills

Now, I let them fall onto the kitchen table

I sit with them as I say my goodbyes

xo

August 2024

 

August 2024

Today, we celebrate the birth of Gramma Jeannette, 

and tomorrow, the birth of Grampa Fran, 

also lovingly known as Grampa Friend. 

We had these two elders for many years, 

yet still, it was not long enough

I have a photograph of them together

walking up our driveway, Gramma carrying a 

lemon cake in a faded Tupperware container, 

him with a folding green and white lawn chair

arriving at our annual summer party

In the background, the corn fields are past knee-high

& the sun is slanted and hazy like a good summer day

the kids are in bathing suits with muddy feet 

and their friends are paddle-boating amongst

 dragonflies, tadpoles, and milkweeds

I don't need the photo to remind me of the love

it lives in my blood and bones and breath

xo