Category: Uncategorized

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The Edge of Grief

Photo by Mikhail Nilov on Pexels.com

approaching the

edge of grief

alongside a friend

and the blur of the

numbing steals all

sense of time

and place and memory

of sequence of order

of hunger and thirst

of exhaustion in the

energy of fumes

we’d just returned

from lunch Tuesday

when her call came.

I’d missed it, called her

back to learn her

husband had fallen

from his chair at

work and she was

hospital bound.

I let our boss know.

A friend and I

arrived to a

room full of people

we did not know.

And just like that,

a lunch special

slice of pizza and

salad with lemon

water later, the

world is changed

forevermore

just hours

before she

broke down

in the waiting

room with the

declaration

we weren’t finished.

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A Flickering

Photo by Anett Szekeres on Pexels.com

at 4:37 I heard

scrambling of paw

on wood floor

ticky-toe hurried

steps toward

the bedroom door

next the whining,

different from normal

pleas, like someone

stepping full weight

on my Boo Radley

then a return to

the bed, where he

turned in circles

bumping us with

his body to wake

us up, then lay

between our heads

trembling

panting

as if there were

a ghost.

I took them out,

all three,

in the light balmy

mist of the

pitch black

Georgia backwoods

starry skies

thought of the bits

of squirrel tail

over near the tree

line where violent

death hung in the

recent air

we came back

inside, and I turned

off the light to return

to bed.

A flicker after the

switch-off, and I

knew.

Hello, Mom!

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All This Pain

Photo by Yusuf Cou015fkun on Pexels.com

the closest we

ever got to a

rainbow was a

peacock feather

the day the two

went to Noah’s Ark

to look for things

to discover

to wonder about

I didn’t feel like

that kind of mother

who says a prayer

and leaves it in

the lap of Jesus

without worry

I was more

the warrior type

praying everyday

hoping all the

nickels would add

up to be worth a miracle

I knew in the back

of my mind when I

saw the Cheshire Cat

smile

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Ticks ~ Husband vs. Wife

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Wife: Oh, good gracious! A tick!

(gets tweezers, removes tick, flushes it)

7 seconds later finishes

applying makeup, gets dressed and starts

writing before work in her favorite chair

***********

Husband: (hollers from shower)

Can you come here?

I need you to look at something!

Wife: (hollers back) I’m not falling for that again.

Husband: No, seriously.

I think I have a tick.

Wife: I’ll be there when you get out.

Husband: (parading into living room

towel wrapped around his waist,

still half-wet, hair every whichaway,

pointing just under his left nipple)

No wonder I’ve been itching since

we got home from camping!

Wife: Are you sure it’s a tick? It’s

embedded deep. It’s not a mole?

Husband: I don’t think so.

Do you have tweezers?

Wife: Yes, I’ll get them.

(brings them from makeup bag)

Husband: Here, you try! (hands tweezers back)

Wife: (rolling eyes)

Husband: Well, I can’t see that angle

Wife: There’s a mirror right

behind you (digging at embedded

tick, husband wincing)

Husband: Here, let me try

(takes tweezers)

Wait, do you have different

tweezers? These aren’t lining up right.

Wife: (goes and looks for another pair

brings them back 3 minutes later)

Husband: (still digging) I got part of it

Wife: The head is still in there.

Husband: I’ll dig that out later. I’m

going to be late for work…..

(dresses, kisses her, grabs coffee, leaves for work)

Wife returns to chair to finish writing

<writes: Ticks ~ Husband vs. Wife>

Special thanks to Two Writing Teachers

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Joy

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

it’s true what God says:

joy comes in the morning when

darkness is at rest

heartaches blanketed

God’s loving mercy and grace

lift away the pain

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Decisions

Photo by HARUN BENLu0130 on Pexels.com

we looked

you drove

I rode

we talked

we offered

they rejected

we walked

and just like that:

decisions are made

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On Hearing the News

Photo by Magda Ehlers on Pexels.com

one of my adult daughters

still calls novels

chapter books ~

on hearing

our family news

she texted:

there I was

listening to my own

chapter book

in my own

little world

of someone else’s

little did I know

there was another

story unfolding

in my own….

I smiled and replied

this could be the start

of a new chapter…….

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Watermelon Offerings

Photo by Rodion Kutsaiev on Pexels.com

Watermelon Offerings

what is this?

well, would you

believe it?

a text ~ding~

a random

communication

newsflash

like a game of Yahtzee

nine years after the full house

will this not substitute

for the apology

owed everyone involved?

this we know:

the human heart

slices cleaner

than seedless watermelon

all cut up in cubes

in a parfait dish

for the entitled

wedding soloist

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Day 29 of #VerseLove with Fran Haley of North Carolina

Fran Haley of North Carolina is our host for Day 29 of #VerseLove, inspiring us to write Heart Map poems. You can read her full prompt here.

Fran explains that author Georgia Heard created Heart Maps to help younger students find their own meaningful stories. She encourages us to brainstorm “first times” in our own lives – or last times.

The Last Time

The last time I came home

before you died you

stood feebly

in the door

cold rushing in

against your

flannel pajamas

swallowing you

life leaving your body

escaping you

your voice

deep and low

sunk to the bottom

of your being

a soul cry of despair

saying my name

Kim

proving you knew me

there at the bitter end

unlike the times before

your trembling arms

reaching for me

I reeled at

the change in you

in only a few days

and held you up

while we cried

both knowing

this would be

our last

standing hug

our last

cry together

our final

goodbye

before you

slipped away

I watched you die