Time Frame

Time is so often

How we frame it

Is this the beginning

The end

Really aren't we always

In the middle

Somewhere

Is today a workday

A family day

A single solitary

Sabbath

To be followed

By another Sabbath

And yet another

Yes

Time is so often

How we frame it

Parentheses

Brackets

Open ended phrases

Like the poetry I write now

No periods

Growing up Together

In the midst

Of the pandemic

We both forgot

Our twenty-fifth

Anniversary

Until three months

Had passed

It's a good thing

We don't measure

Years

The same way

As some others

But then

We celebrate every year

With memories

Of growing up

Together

Even though

We didn't meet

Until our thirties

Instead of

Instead of

What have you done

For me

Lately

What have I done

For you 

 

Instead of 

Beating you

To the punch

May I beat you

To

The notice of

Your kindness

Offered

To me

And others

May we

Ease into

All of this

Gracefully

Together

Cliff

Which cliff

Shall I leap from

Today

It's bound

To be a cliff

If today is like

Most others 

I get into trouble

On a regular basis

I must be doing

Something

Right 

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Fearfully and wonderfully

Made

We are

All creation is

Even earthworms

Even ants

Even sunflowers

Even weeds

Be careful what

You uproot

It may have been intended

To be there

For unknowable reasons

Fearfully and wonderfully 

Made

Every part

Of us

Snow

 

Snow

It coats the limbs

Considers the sidewalk

As a place

To linger

 

Snow

It marks the footprints

Of those

Who made their way

This morning 

Snow

It hangs out

On the milkweed

In the backyard

It may be gone

By afternoon

But as usual

We shall see

What happens

Next

One Thing Only

On my way

Down the stairs

I imagine what

That one thing 

Will be

One thing only

Requires attention

Before coffee

Before I plow through

Email

One thing only

To land on paper

Before 

Anything else

First things

First

Hippos Run Rampant

Hippos run rampant

In Colombia

On the loose

From Escobar's zoo

While they are endangered

In their African homeland

They are nasty

In Colombia

They multiply

They trample

Their freedom

Is not contained

Bernie's Mittens

 I arose 

From the North

I know

How to dress

I have only knit

One pair of mittens

In my life

When I was 22

Those were 

So tightly knit

My husband

Could not wear them.

The scarf

Yes

The mittens

No

I consider mittens

Again

Inspired by the man

Without the hat

Still

I have moved

In more craft directions

I would need to learn

To knit

All over again

I am considering

Socks

Gap Year

Gap years 

Used to be

For the wealthy few

To explore distant parts

Of the world

2020

We all took

A gap year

At home 

With masks

When we gather again

What will we have learned

In the gap

Fragments

Were we whole

To begin with

Before we were scored

Shattered

Into fragments

Shall we

Be matched

Into the old

Or into a new

Beginning

With reference

To the old

Red Lentils

Time to make dal

Smell the onions

The garlic

The curry

The ginger

Red lentils cook down

Quicker

Than brown

The dal

Will scent the house

Sooner

That way

 

 

Houseboat in the Woods

When the boat

Was no longer

Lakeworthy

They placed it

On land

In a clearing

In the woods

My grandfather slept there

We used to run around

The outside

Of the boat

Ring the bell

The houseboat

Was too scary for us

At night

Animal eyes

Might awaken us

We slept upstairs

In the green boathouse

Under piles

Of blankets

It always smelled vaguely

Of diesel

We listened to the waves

Glass Darkly

Now

All is not clear

There is so much

Unknown 

This dark smoked

Glass

Waits

To be cleared

Cleaned

Of all 

That has gone before

We wait

For the smoke

To clear

So our dim vision

Can see through

The haze

It All Flows Into the Sea

It all flows into the sea

The water

The liquid 

Which holds

So much

Of who we are

We merge

No matter our aim

To remain

An individual drop

We all flow

Into the sea

There is beauty here

If we but open

Our eyes

We forget we flow

Into the same ocean

Sometimes there comes

The sting of salt

In our eyes

In wounds

We forgot

We brought with us

We are the ocean

 

Flying Squirrel

How many adaptions

Did it take

To develop

The flying squirrel

To fly

(Albeit soar)

Eat fungi

Live in treetops 

How many tries

Til now 

And how many

Will it take

From here 

On out

And

To what end

Harbinger

There will come the time

May it be sooner

Rather than later 

Jesus

Has just been baptized

We wait for the crowd

To get the message

John was not

The final word

But the harbinger

Signaling the dawn

The real beginning

 

Broken Glass

Sometimes it takes

Broken glass

To figure all

Is not whole

Inside the house

 

The person

Inside the House

Is not as whole

As some might make

Of him

 

Four years and now

Broken glass

Walls breached

We are not immune

There are windows

To be repaired

Thank You Notes

After Christmas we wrote

Our thank you notes

Sat at the dining room table

Until we were done

At the very least

We had to write

Thank you

For thinking of me

In this season

And

One thing we appreciated

About the gift

Even if it was only

Its magnificent color

Too Close to Call

It seems most decisions

Are 

Too close to call

They get caught up

In hopes

In wishes

In

Finally

Will we have the answer

In 

Finally 

There are 

Still more voices

To be heard 

The voice which cries

In the wilderness

Makes the decision

Too close to call

Next Things

Thing one

Thing two

Dr Seuss

Comes to mind

Patience is the order

Of the year

Still

To take on patience

As a resolution

Is not specific enough

Thing one

Thing two

Consider the simplicity

Of Dr. Seuss

Not just for children

What comes next

And then what

I Have Muscles I Did Not Know

I have muscles

I did not know

Until they appeared

Knotted

Stretched

In new ways

A heating pad

Is my new friend

I shall name her

Samantha

Keep her close

Until 

My hamstring heals

 

Resolved

Add a piece of fruit

With breakfast

Only one cup

Of coffee

Yes

Only one

Donate a cup 

To someone in need

Of warm hands

A warm stomach

Consider what's next

There's always

A next