Category: grief
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Front yards
You want a house on the edge of town land enough for a garden, chickens and guinea hens You want a screened porch to keep mosquitoes at bay and a stately oak tree to day dream under You want a nice cafe and coffee shop to walk to an independent book store next to the…
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haiku for a gentle friend
gentle songs of loss bare feet sought ground’s redemption a night made holy 2-13-20
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Traversing darkness while moving toward light
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by
I sat with a friend around a fire in our yard We talked of children, the craft of writing, of basketball an ideal job, a feral cat he gave a friend and the one he still feeds on his porch We talked of possums, guinea hens, ticks, raccoons and a hawk that swooped up a…
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for Mel
Overhead fractured sunlight through bare limbs Clouds race towards sun set The text said my sister’s husband fled with clouds at noon We say we are happy for him But for those that stay to rake dry leaves in memory piles it is a sad exercise and all we can do is let them rake…
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Boomer Bovine Blues
Ziploc gladness is a plastic bag full with blueberries cool and sweet to eat while watching cable news Blue like B.B. King riffing in a club waiting for closing time and someone or anyone to take you home Milk the cows of gladness joy in a bucket – butter and cream tug the teats –…
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To a friend with a dying cat
I would tell you about a free kitten given to us when we were poor it got leukemia Cost us all kinds of money we didn’t have and the damn cat died anyway But you don’t want to hear about our expensive, free cat so I won’t tell you how Even though it was sick…
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The dust behind my refrigerator
Trying to find my way back into a dream I slept in this morning Mom was trying to contact me from her grave Laying on the guilt Something about deep cleaning the kitchen for the holidays But my father kept calling out “Alice, that boy never listens leave him alone and come to bed” 12-18-19
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Insomnia
In the middle of the night it is worse – everything is quiet you feel rain on the roof smell dry leaves rustle in trees hear musty spores propagate in the yard outside your door You sit on the edge of your bed trying to calm the swirling feels that keep you awake at night…
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Oyster dressing
A daughter and a son sisters and brothers Nieces and nephews and assorted in-laws Will gather at noon with dishes of old family recipes At my baby sister’s house and I will not be there Never again will I pray over turkey with oyster dressing and pumpkin pie Never again will I watch mom taste…
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The Gleaning
This morning I heard ….I heard a friend A friend got his miracle …..His miracle a lung A lung from someone …..Someone with a family A family who loved and prayed …..Prayed for a miracle A miracle of more time …..Time to love just a bit Just a bit more time …..Time to love just…
My husband's poetry 