Category: Uncategorized

Posted on

Farewell Flower Petals

more goodbyes today,

this time the petals

of the yellow roses

adorning her casket

the ones I rescued from

the graveside for fear

the deer would eat them

instead bringing them

home to make potpourri

but never opening the

lid, finally pulling the

red Russell Stover

chocolate Valentine tin

from the top shelf of

the closet, opening the

lid, taking in the

faded scents of

New Year’s Eve 2015

the day of her funeral

a last day of a year

a last day of a lifetime

a day, June 13, 2024

to say goodbye to

the flowers I’ve kept

for so long

I scattered them at

the edge of the wood

where the tragedy

happened with the

squirrel so the flowers

recycled to another

farewell and will

live on in this red

clay pine tree forest

forever

Posted on

Unraveling Nonet

Photo by Rose Rosen on Pexels.com

a catastrophic system failure

when things don’t quite go as we’d planned,

spinning out of our control,

fall apart at the seams

come undone, collapse

unraveling

spiraling

groundward

splat

Posted on

Pet Rock

Photo by Peter Du00f6pper on Pexels.com

after she died

this all

become a

pet rock

relationship

a biding

of time

a hermit

in his paper

kennel

speaking

only of

those who

bid their dogs

farewell

Posted on

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.

Posted on

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!

Posted on

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

Posted on

Ticks ~ Husband vs. Wife

Photo by Erik Karits on Pexels.com

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

Posted on

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

Posted on

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