Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Toothpaste

Respecting differences

Years ago
We were told
My Beloved
Must come to church
With me.
We switched counselors.
The next counselor said
We needed to share
A tube
Of toothpaste.
My beloved did.
He brought my son
To church.
My Beloved was baptized
Years later.
We each still
Have our own tube
Of toothpaste.
I still
Leave
The cap off.

Monday, February 26, 2018

Gracious

Graciousness is in the ear or eye of the perceiver 

Sometimes
Lent starts late
Or Lent
Finds another time
Of year
To spend
Its forty days.
I am late
This year.
My goal
Is to be gracious
For forty days
In a row
Including Sundays.


Saturday, February 24, 2018

Chernobyl voles

Back to the voles from yesterday

Have more cataracts
Than other voles.
They think it has to do
With all
The Chernobyl mushrooms
They eat.
I do not know
Of any other
Vole
Cataract
Study.
How do voles see
In non-nuclear
Waste sites?
How do they find
Mushrooms
In Chernobyl?
Do they taste
Any different?
How would
A short-lived vole
Know different?

Friday, February 23, 2018

Chernobyl beavers

I am glad Chernobyl is still being studied. I understand voles have more cataracts...but I did not know anyone else was studying vole cataracts.

They thrive,
without us.
The human-free zone
Allows
Readily gnaw-able
Birch.
They
In turn
Allow
Eventual bogs.
They
In turn will allow
Oh
Who knows
What may happen next
In the human-free zone.
Chernobyl beavers
May gnaw their way
Into
New possibilities.


Sunday, February 18, 2018

Jellyfish

Who could come up with such a thing?

It seems some jellyfish
Live forever.
They move
From spore
To tentacled being
To spore
And back again.
No reincarnation
For the jellyfish.
No being named
After
Aunt Susie
Uncle Jack
Just an endless cycle
Of life
Then life
Again
Forever George
In different forms.


Friday, February 16, 2018

Wailing wall

How many prayers?

How many walls
Must we build?
How many?
Before the world
Is walled off
And we have stopped
Seeing
Anyone else?
How many
Prayers
Must be placed
In the chinks?
How many guns
Lined up
On the top?



Thursday, February 15, 2018

Farmer's Almanac

What's coming, and when, and how.

The bushes begin
To appear
Once more.
What was a foot
Of snow
Is now
Six inches.
I wonder again
About a subscription
To
The Farmer's Almanac.
Still
It seems
Like astrology
Or a belief
In woolly bear caterpillars.
I would always like
A sure-fire way
To predict
What's coming,
And when,
And how.

Sunday, February 11, 2018

Thumb loop

It's the little things

My first time
In a sling.
I have
The fancy one
With
A thumb loop
To hold it
In place.
Someone spent years
Designing it.
I am grateful
For
The thumb loop.
Grateful for the sling
Yes
But especially grateful
For
The thumb loop.

Saturday, February 10, 2018

Fox in snow redux

My beloved cleared the foot of snow from the front walk yesterday. Today there is a quarter inch,  just enough to see our fox tracks.

There they were again,
On the front walk,
Singular fox tracks
In the snow dust.
He leaves signs
For us to find
In the morning.
It is always good
To know
We are accompanied
By an unseen
Fox.

Friday, February 9, 2018

Snow hat

Backyard wildlife waits not so much to play in the snow, as for the next mouthful of seed.

The flat surfaces
Outdoors
Wear foot-high
Snow hats
Birds and squirrels
Wait
Not
So patiently
Under
The outside table.
It has its own
Snow hat
With room
For seed
Underneath.



Thursday, February 8, 2018

Birds in snow

I would have thought that the cardinal, being bigger, would hog the seed. Perhaps there's protection in numbers

The cardinal
Arrayed in red,
The flock of juncos
In white-fronted
Black tuxedos
Make a meal
Of the seed
Under
The outdoor
Dining table.
All are welcome
Under the table,
No matter who
Is wearing what.
All are welcome.
All eat
Together,


Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Squirrel in snow

Picture of contentment

The squirrel
Dug his face
In the snow
He knew
There was birdseed there
Yesterday/
Sure enough
It was still there
He emerged
With a face full
Of snow
And seed.
If a squirrel
might chew
And smile.
He did.

Fox in snow

I love watching animals in the snow. Sometimes it's  reminders of animals in the snow

The fox
Must have used
The sidewalk
Last night.
It had been cleared
Yesterday
So it was only
Today's snow
Which showed
Fox tracks
Singular
As he walked
Each foot
In the print
He left
In front.
How does he do that?
I wonder
The daintiness
Of the fox.
We were not awake
To see him
Last night
Make
His singular prints
In the snow
Up the sidewalk
To the front door.

Monday, February 5, 2018

Exotic bones

Thank you, Joyce, for this stream of thought.

Someone named
The bones
Perhaps he was
Perhaps she was
In
An odd
A funny
Frame of mind.
How else
Could we explain
Clavicle
Metatarsal
  first
  second
  third
  fourth
  fifth
Someone  named
The bones
Of course
we must not forget
The humerus
Right and left.
Someone must have been
In a funny
Frame of mind.

Thursday, February 1, 2018

One thing

We are a multi-tasking world. Breathe. What is the one thing for now.

Only one thing
Is needed
Right now.
We figure out
Which one
Is required
for today.
Every day
It is different.
We think
It must be one today
Then two
Tomorrow
Then on and on
And on
Until we
Have lost track
Of the first.
It is lost
In the dust
Of yesterday.
No
Everything builds
On those needed things.
Nothing is lost
but today
Has one needful thing.
It is there.
It shines
In its particularity.