Category: daily life
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Rhinocerous rain
Driving north out of Nashville, traffic thickens to a slow confession near Fort Campbell, brake lights bloom like votive candles stretching out into Kentucky. I think of Thomas Merton, cloistered among the knobs and forests of Gethsemani Monastery. Where silence became a discipline. Prayer was not an escape, but another way of entering the world.…
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Pocket change
Staring into the well I contemplate cake candle and chicken bone wishes that are long overdue. I jingle coins in my pocket and wonder how the demise of the penny will impact the number and odds for wish requests and if the number of affirmations will decrease in proportion to the number of requests or…
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rainy day coffee
Wet tires hiss in street Light rain drums window Coffee shop voyeur – notebook in hand Couples talk in low voices Groups laugh, cajole, share stories While devotees pray at laptop altars They read posts about exhibits in museums Curated, static moments Locked in fabric, stone and paint Posed and moved from room to room…
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Sonic voyeurism
Cardinals call back and forth Mourning doves coo in woods Blue jays squabble at anything that comes close Neighbor’s little dogs yap on their deck Owls call from tree tops – Night is coming! Tree frogs reply – Yes, the night is coming! Somewhere in the distance sirens call Get out of my way, I’m…
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Waiting on the rain
I want to lie awake and listen to rain on the roof in the gutters and drains as it slowly digests every solid thing and excretes them in the sea and when this world is done with me, flush me adrift on my way to sea. 5-11-26
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Ten months
Died, such a small word, but oh the weight it drags behind it. It has been ten months and the FAA finally released your personal effects. Your mother needed to sift through where zippers whispered confessions, smudged finger prints gave testimony you were alive. It seemed an invasion of your privacy and I refuse to…
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Nest of leaves
sun bleached bench pine cone nests on leaves you think maybe a squirrel has hidden it in plain sight or maybe it fell in the night and landed there like you fell in the night and landed here neither of you had control over the decision to exist and neither of you has control over…
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Eddie Albert at the Green Acres General Store
In this great, green, good morning Carol is up early and in her office, while I lie in bed listening to the day. An app on my phone lists birds that live in our neighborhood and feed at the bird cafe suspended in our yard. Twelve species light up the screen. A Northern Cardinal and…
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Resist
When Sylvester stalks the bird feeder, Tweety Bird keeps a watchful eye, refuses to give in to fear, or let the bastard win. 3-9-26
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Sacrifice
All season long Winter prepares for Spring, pushes stubborn leaves from their perch so new ones have a place to grow. Some fall on grass, some on moss, some on naked ground, and some fall into the fire. They sizzle for a moment before they’re gone. The others will be pushed to the curb for…