Holder of the Universe

My job is to hold up the universe
That surrounds me.  The heft
Is greatest on overcast days
Or when someone hurts
Me or a loved one. The sunlight
Helps but  not as much as a kind,
Weightless word.

Weird

Today is an overcast day.
Chilly, didn’t make it out
of the sixties. The witches hair
moss sways
from the trees surrounding me.
For the first time
I see the scene
as my visitors do.

Squirrel Chaser

 

A dog lives there in that house
by the two hickory nut trees.
She’s about our size and the same
color. She thinks she owns the place.
Just play along, run when she comes
chasing out the door.  It doesn’t hurt
for us to give her a little thrill.  She’s
cute, but dumb as a tree limb.  She
doesn’t get it that she’s been chasing
us all her life and never been close. 
Poor dumb animal. Here she comes,
you two run and I’ll watch this time.
This dog cracks me up!

Measured

I’m more of a whim kind of woman.

Nothing measured, researched, fretted over.
I decide, talk it over, look to friends
who’ve been there before, then
go full steam ahead.  I find
unmeasured decisions bring good results
as often as the situations I agonize over.

Losing Out on Christmas

She said she hates Christmas.

She’s sucked in each year

feels like a bad parent if she
doesn’t buy, buy, buy for her
adult children and grandchildren.
She said her mother hated Christmas
like she does.  That she has now
passed  it on down to her daughter
but her son’s wives don’t think
like we do.  They love Christmas
gift giving and no matter what I say
they keep giving.  I don’t know what
else to do, They don’t listen.
I just hate Christmas.

Why not have a family meeting?

Come to some compromise?
Maybe you can do your thing
and they can do theirs?
But be prepared to take their
gift with aplomb even if you
don’t have your own to give.
People show love in different ways.
I know because I am the giver
of gifts.  The giver of my love
shopped for carefully,
wrapped with loving care,
given along with a piece of my heart.

You show your love by cooking

for loved ones.  Something I’m not
as good at, something the girls don’t
enjoy.  You have your gifts, too.
It would be sad to lose out on the love
offered generously from one to the other.
How could we do that?

When You Aren’t Looking

Brilliant colors incorporate

on the black and white background

A childs first mumbling words

recited like a bird’s cawing

Cascading brooks glisten

over cool mountain stones

Loved one glances at you

with eyes that say forever

Just when we aren’t paying attention

glorious and abundant happens.

Everyone Deserves A Friend Who Makes Them Laugh

JoAnn made me laugh

I could open the door and see her

standing there and I’d crack up.

We both would. We had that effect

on each other.  We got thrown out

of places for laughing, like the court

house in Tampa or a department store.

We weren’t young women, we knew

better, but she said the funniest things.

We laughed mostly at ourselves. Our kids

were the same age, we had the same values,

our husbands even liked each other. We

talked each other through pits and falls,

there was a deep bond beyond the laugher.

Each friendship I have made since then, I

compared to JoAnn and the fun we had.

The realization that there is no replacement

for our close friends was a long time coming.

I wasted a lot of years searching for another

JoAnn.  I am right about one thing though,

everyone deserves a friend who makes them laugh.

Great Form

Shadorma

is my favorite

poetry

form so far

because it’s so simply done

I hope you’ll try it.

If you use

this Spanish poem style

remember

it can be

more addictive than even

the Haiku or Lune.

Nottingham Drive, Tampa, Florida

Another postcard perfect Florida day here in Tampa.
The sun’s a spotlight on the trees and shrubs, showing
off the new growth, new life green that emboldens
our senses and lightens our burdens if we take notice.

This time of year I have to go home and take a break
for there is so much to take in, so much to do. I want
to see and taste it all, not miss a single drop of life
that presence itself on Nottingham Drive and beyond.

What Got Me Here?

What got me here

is chance and hard turns
graces, bad luck, and blessings
working against the grain
death, life, tragedy, beauty
laughter, sobs, facing the fears
writing, painting, loving, giving
being loved, held, respected
contemplation and chance meetings.
sense of balance and nonsense
coasting and landing hard
pain, joy, passions, and grasps.

That’s what got me here.
What will it take
to get me further still?

Signs of Spring

Romance and spring fever
Baby animals and budding flowers
Gardening and green grass
Flies, ladybugs and bumble bees
Easter bunnies and dyed eggs
Jelly beans and baby chicks
Pastels, sun dresses and shorts
Long walks in the countryside
Sunglasses, sunshine and sandals
Lemonade, sun tea, family gatherings
The smell of hamburgers on the grill
Home made ice cream and cool breezes
Strawberries, sunsets, swimming pools
Sand castles and trips to the beach
Sure signs that spring is here

Last Chance

This is your last chance to change your mind
To hold me in esteem and do the right thing
To go against the flow and set things right
This is your last chance to live every cliché
Ever written, now just do it!

November 1

I lock the door on one more year at the mountain house, to
friends and family that are in the Carolinas and Tennessee.
I close out Autumn as it is at that altitude in the Smokys.
I caravan to temps more like early summer as it is in Florida.
Closing up is a heart hard thing for me to do. Each year
seems to take its toll on me. I am never ready. Snook says
it’s because I am a mountain woman and it will never feel right.

When I open my door in Florida I am greeted with newness
on all the old things I left behind many months ago. I am
struck by how beautiful my home here is, close to ocean
and surrounded by friends and family. Autumn here is more
like early summer and I know it will get better as we head
into winter which seems like months of fall minus the show
of color and grandeur of mountain scape. I am always surprised
how much I love getting home to Florida after having such
a taffy pull of emotions before I come back. I feel wrenched
free of one beauty but I embrace another. Beaches and the ocean
beckon me and the holidays are coming. More reasons to rejoice.
Come June I know I will wrench myself away from here to head
for the mountains. I will look forward to the cool summer
there but only after I am there. I'll have to say good-bye
to palm trees and family, friends and activities that I love.

I am a fickle one, dreading the closing of each door,
feeling my heart being pulled and stretched as I do,
loving the opening of the other and rejoicing in the new
of this place, or that.

Emergency

She lived a firehouse kind of existence in her youth,
never knew when the bell would sound and she’d have
to give in to the flight, rather than fight signal. She’d run,

hide; seek solace anywhere that was out of harm’s way.
The emergency might be over but she always had watch,
waiting for that siren to sound again so she could assess
the situation and seek safety. She lived in a state

of emergency, a combat zone for those many years.
Harm lay in wait at every corner, it could descend
at any moment. Could it be self preservation or irony

that she would marry a firefighter; first response.