Lessons in Patience

Patience is a virtue:the restraint in the chaos,the ticking of clocks heard from a great distanceuntil the sound is only a memory, like the whisper of the windenwrapping the yellow-tinged leavesand tossing them into the sunbaked sky.Patience is the calm beforethe storm; the soothing serenade of moonlight scattered on the bedroom walls;the simple act ofContinue reading “Lessons in Patience”

Silence Bookended

glimmering skylinegrassy lakeside reflectionssilence bookended This was my favorite photo that I captured of our two youngest sons relaxing on a blanket while watching the city fireworks last weekend. They sat in awe, taking everything in, from the little girl sitting behind us with her family who offered them glowsticks before the display began toContinue reading “Silence Bookended”

Healing Connections

I’d mentioned earlier about driving (more like, sloughing through a never-ending mire of idling vehicles) in New York City in mid-May. My main reason for traveling to the area was to attend a “Breathe Now” AYA cancer survivor retreat in Chester, New York. I’d discovered the retreat over the winter when searching for more AYAContinue reading “Healing Connections”

April Buds

The morning chorus of birdsong greets me under a gray-cloaked sky.We sip coffee on the back porch in sweatshirts, hoods pulled tight around our faces as the first tentative raindrops scamper across the yard, blipping onto the peeling paint,spreading out into Rorschach blobs that test our springtime fortitude. I wrote this poem for this week’sContinue reading “April Buds”

Pruning

bountiful greens– pine, fern layered on emerald and mossy olive, pickled forest mint jungle weeds tangle in trellises My garden is looking pretty good this summer, in spite of the weeds. The above picture I took last week, and the zucchini plant pictured is now twice as large (it seems like that would be anContinue reading “Pruning”

in the before and the after

time, for myself, is now bifurcated, cleaved around its natural disaster channeled endlessly, sometimes I hate it tunneled through disease: before and after I comb through the past but can’t reconcile before the hourglass flipped on its side, pooling in hollow in-between miles, pouring sand through fingers splayed, I reside on the other side, aContinue reading “in the before and the after”

Better Goals

dawn of a new year cirrus clouds part orange sky ripple reflection drifting aimless overhead waves’ perpetual motion I sincerely have good intentions of creating strong New Year’s resolutions for 2023. Every year, I say this, and every year I have a different idea to try to make this work out perfectly. Last year, IContinue reading “Better Goals”

Cast Off

Cast out to sea, warbling wayward. Only the wind speaks, offering its favors– its knowledge and greed, gathering our labors to skim waves so free, spreading them skyward. Our grief? Let it be, whistling onward. Say goodbye to me, but I’ll save my words. This week’s Wea’ve Written Weekly from the Skeptic’s Kaddish involves breakups.Continue reading “Cast Off”

The Founding Member of the Club

moonglow overhead turning slippery bridges into whispered dreams floating down country backroads Mississippi memories What do you do when you’re the youngest person in the room? Do you straighten your shoulders and make yourself taller? Do you tilt your ears, hoping for wisdom’s osmosis? Last week, I returned to Rochester, Minnesota, for my radiation check-up.Continue reading “The Founding Member of the Club”

Changing Currents

Meander through meadows, patching puzzle pieces together into a mosaic tapestry. Wind– unwind– but don’t unravel; follow the brook’s bedrocks as they hum lazily with current through distant soothing channels toward our hazy destination. This summer, I have taken a giant leap– into a new job! I’ll still be teaching, but at the college levelContinue reading “Changing Currents”