Wild currant

I want a job
Naming all the colors
To set free
Imagination
In people's heads.
We went through
All the paint chips
For the front door
Finally settled
On
Wild currant
No simple red
Or even burgundy
Wild currant
It is
Let imagination
Run wild.

Project creep

The project creeps along
One window
One gutter
One door
At a time
Our cleaning person calls
Our contractor
A lazy man
Still
He does good work.
We watch
The project
Creep.
Every day we come home
See one more thing
Has been done.
When the snow flies
The face lift
Should be
Complete.

Discernment

It's all discernment
Discernment in
Discernment out
Discernment in between
Some of us live
In the liminal space
We forever wonder
What comes next,
Or whether it is necessary
To bring a blankie there
Settle down
For a long nap
Until the next thing.

Embrace

Embrace
And reconciliation
Are different.
Reconciliation means
First there was conflict.
Now there is much hard work
To rejoin.
Embrace can happen
Anytime
Still,
To be authentic,
Reconciliation must come
First.

When a loved one

When a loved one
Gets hurt
It is vital to have
Someone else
On the scene
To report every step
That loved one
Can not report
Himself
Herself.
See?
I did not name you
This will be your story
To tell
But mine to watch
From the sidelines.

Face lift

The house is getting
A face lift
New windows
New siding (grey blue)
New front door paint
Closer to burgundy
Than bright red.
No one will recognize her
When they walk by
I will still tell my drivers
Three doors down
On the left.
They will not know
Who she is
With her face lift.
We may even have difficulty
Ourselves.

One risk

One risk per day
At least one
Is all it takes
to see what comes
Next.

Hint of autumn

There is a hint of autumn
In the air
In the yellowing plants
In the birds figuring
When it will be time
To fly,
A hint
But only a hint.
We know
What comes next
It is always the same.
I like
The sameness
I know
What to expect
When it comes.

Sandcastle building

The competition is on.
Who will judge?
Who will win?
What makes a good enough
Sandcastle?
Does it require
A drawbridge?
A moat?
How much sand?
How much water?
Saltwater beach
or fresh?
Decorated with seashells
Or beach glass?
The competition is on
Who will win?
Does it matter?

Crab apple year

Crab apple year
But the fireflies
Went missing
While cicadas rasped
Crickets sang.
We wait for the animals
To eat the crab apples
They're here.
They're here
They're here
We tell them
Where are you?
Gone with the fireflies?
Where are you?
We wait.

In my world

In my world
Which is
Your world
Don't forget
It is your world too.
In my world
People are people
Are people
Are people
Are people.
It is sometimes easy
To forget
We all hold hands.
In my world
It is your world.
Too.

Button box

My mother had a button box
I used to pour them
On the floor
Figure what I would do
With each one.
One button
Was the Aesop's fable button
Of the fox and the stork.
Each one
Inviting the other
To dinner.
The stork
Got the upper hand.
I wish I had
That button box
I would pour them
On the floor
Figure out
What stories
They could tell.