Why,
oh why
does it always
feel like
I have more
demands than hands
and
tasks than time?
Poems
Our Only Place (A Poem for Earth Day, 2022)
Home,
and more.
Mother and Maker,
from the good dirt
to the blue water,
the mountain
to the shore,
this place is ours.
Our only place,
from solid ground
to deepest sea,
to be.
In all of space
and time,
this earth
belongs to us,
nurtures us,
gives to us
and takes,
brings life and death
and all things between.
And in turn,
we belong –
to land and sky,
to ocean and sand,
to each other
and this planet.
How great
and terrible
a lesson to learn:
that here,
we have
everything.
(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: Bluebell Season
My other favorite sign of spring here in Virginia: the Virginia bluebell.
Just like the bright, striking pink of the redbud tree, the calm blues and purples of these little beauties just make so happy. And when you happen across a field of bluebells, it honestly feels a bit like stepping into a fairyland.
I wrote a poem about them last year, which I’ll share at the end of this post, just below.
I tell ya…there’s just something a little bit magic about Virginia in the spring.
Blue Belle (A Poem)
Lady Blue,
now ring your bell
through forest, field, and fairy dell,
from riverbank to village green:
the time has come for growing things.
Bloom (A Poem)
All things have
(and take)
their time –
to go fallow
and then rise
from root to sky,
to bloom and grow.
Nature shows us –
there is no shame
in a patient cycle of
quiet moments
and many tries.
Trying out a totally new poetry form!
Here’s another one for the monthly poetry challenge over at Fake Flamenco. April’s challenge is to write a Prime Verse – a brand new form – around a theme of the wonder of experiencing the universe or the earth.
Here’s mine:
Look at the night sky –
the moon, stars, and velvet dark –
and know: you’re looking out, into, on, not up.
Do you tremble to be small?
Does it frighten you?
Or, instead, do you marvel,
find wonder, splendor, in the vastness of it?
Look at the night sky
and know: a whole world, the universe, is nigh.
I love this form that Rebecca has created! It’s got a nice ebb and flow, and feels just really fluid and lyrical. And of course, the theme this month was fun, too. If you want to participate, the deadline to post is April 10th at noon. I think you should! It’s always fun, after all, to try new things. 😊
Poetry Is (A Poem for National Poetry Month)
A dance of
sound and silence,
the cadence of
word and rhyme
in perfect time.
A cry, a chance,
an exclamation.
The joys and sadness
of one
or a nation.
Light and dark and lyrical,
or halting and still.
The will to write,
the fight to find
just the right
turn of phrase
to break through the haze
of day and night
and step outside
the endless circle.
Poetry is power:
yours, mine, and ours.
Poetry is home,
and away,
and longing
and knowing
and looking
and seeing –
all that we are,
and all that we can become.
Fool’s Warning (A Poem)
Be careful today
and heed these words
and save yourself some pain:
To play the fool
is quite the game,
or sometimes,
not a game at all –
the Lord of Misrule
is cunning and cruel
and rejoices in a fall.
*It’s coming a bit late in the afternoon, I know, but if you indulge in a little April Fool’s trickery today, please remember this: It’s only a joke if everyone’s laughing.*
The Why (A Poem for World Poetry Day)
I write poetry
to leave a piece
of me
behind.
I write to
look back and
forward,
to dance
on the edge,
to quiet the
frenzy
in my head.
Or just to sit back,
and look
and see.
There’s no wrong
reason,
I think,
to write poetry.
A slant
of words,
a twist
of the tongue,
can change
the world.
How fortunate
are we,
the writers,
that such a
magic
can be ours?
A Shadorma for Graham
I’ve really been enjoying the monthly poetry challenges over at Fake Flamenco! March’s challenge is to write a shadorma around the theme of light and darkness. I wrote two, because it was fun. 😊
Here’s one for Graham, who I often call “my guiding star.”
You’re my light
A star in the dark
Shining down
On my path
A guide in the deepest night
To bring me home safe
And here’s another one, revisiting a poem I wrote back in 2020, called “Free Will.” It was already sort of composed around a theme of light and shadow, and it was interesting to take a look at it two years later and retool it for a specific poetry form.
We are light
And also darkness
Both reside
In us all
And we choose how they balance
Each moment we live
I’m looking forward to April’s challenge!
Eve (A Poem for International Women’s Day)
*March is Women’s History Month, and tomorrow, March 8th, is International Women’s Day. I wrote a poem around this time last year – you can find it here – and so it felt right to post something this year, too. I hope you like it, and please be sure to take some time this month (especially tomorrow) to appreciate all of the amazing women in your life, past and present. I have many. They have my heart.*
************
Eve
A story we’ve heard:
The first of us all
(to fall) –
help-meet and wife,
made and prized,
then punished,
removed and reviled.
The woman who
became a warning.
And history became
both judge and jury,
gave us no choice,
no voice.
The story became ours,
but it never belonged to us.
And before, and now,
down in our bones
we know it.
We know:
It is human to fall
and rise again,
to seek,
to learn,
to live in curiosity.
And so,
can we reclaim her,
weave her story anew
and see her,
this mother of mothers?
Blood of our blood –
can we finally love
(not blame)
her?
A Virginia Writer's Diary 