100 haiku challenge - 76

We all yelled surprise

and could see that she was so

confused but joyful.

100 haiku challenge - 75

Sticky fingertips

from popcorn with the students

almost done with school

100 haiku challenge - 74

Between the spring storms

the sun shone on wet flowers

along the sidewalk.

100 haiku challenge - 73

The sky turned yellow

during a storm at sunset,

my favorite kind.

100 haiku challenge - 72

On the couch tonight

and the sky is gray and blue,

and my feet are sore.

100 haiku challenge - 71

Bird song and a breeze
blowing in through the window
my breath is easy. 

100 haiku challenge - 70

Rain in the morning
that dried up by afternoon
and such vibrant life

100 haiku challenge - 69

Purple in the yard

from bulbs planted years ago;

gentle reminder.

100 haiku challenge - 68

Odd in my body

for nothing but awareness

of the space I fill.

100 haiku challenge - 67

Red amaranth shoots

catch my eye in the garden,

such a tasty snack.

100 haiku challenge - 66

Wandering at lunch

in sunshine and no hurry,

hands in my pockets.

April 19 poem

for 'Til Death Do Us Part 2015

The lore begins here: / The Shadowman was a joke / now immortalized

At the time of recording the first of

an unknowable number of episodes:

the domain is secured. Operations

happening concurrent with creation

of this premiere premier top tier podcast.

I am not tracking the number of times

Tim & Guy make space for Justin to laugh

himself off the mic, but that is the track

I'm on, wondering if I will ever

stop learning facts about a movie

I am determined never to watch.

I don't want to know.

No one's going to check the email

until or unless there's a lore-keeper.

The jokes will repeat / this is going to happen / until this thing ends

The picture on the front cover of Alice's Restaurant the Cookbook has Alice sitting in an armchair in her kitchen. She looks delighted. I remember reading in the book as a child that one should always have an armchair in one's kitchen. My experience has made cushions of seat pads on wooden chairs at the kitchen table. It is a place to bond with a book, a craft, a podcast, some organizing or tidying. It is where I most often enjoy the careening conversation of 'Til Death Do Us Blart, something I am in no way obligated to do, and yet.

Warm in the kitchen / redefining holiday / one year at a time

100 haiku challenge - 65

A full pot of tea

and a room bright with sunshine;

I breathe easily.

100 haiku challenge - 64

Sunshine on the face

of a friend I rarely see,

surrounded by plants.

100 haiku challenge - 63

No rain yet tonight

although it is heading here,

and may stay awhile. 

100 haiku challenge - 62

The Black Walnut tree

has bark that is thick and ridged

with very large ants.

100 haiku challenge - 61

Petals all around

brought down by the rain today,

flat on the sidewalk.

100 haiku challenge - 60

The warm evening air

on my bare arms and ankles,

so soft and gentle

100 haiku challenge - 59

I saw a beetle

on the carpet on a day

of open windows

April 12 poem

After a zoom meeting where our colleague read a poem by Naomi Shihab Nye

In a room of four

I listened to more

than words and form.

Living sounds, warm

as a heart. Long

tear tracks, strong

lines hold together

a flow, a living tether.

Note: Rhyme mystifies me. I knew I wanted to make space for this specific memory to be honored beyond the moment, and it's solid enough to withstand the practice. I pulled some prompts for myself and got:

4 stanzas

short, end-rhymed couplets

on the theme of "tears become lines in the poem"

This is the third draft & I will revisit it, I think. Perhaps in a different form, perhaps with different words

💞

100 haiku challenge - 58

The table was warm

and I relaxed into it,

grateful for respite.

100 haiku challenge - 57

I didn't write one

or rather, I chose to rest

after this last week

For real, though - i didn't write one yesterday, not about walking through the neighborhood before a marathon because I kept missing my bus, or the joy of setting up before a big event that I'm only volunteering for, or seeing colleagues and families, or my new earrings. Not about buying books and eating salad and the deep sleep after several demanding days.

But I like the habit, so I'm here anyway, next day, just to enjoy the space

🥰💞

100 haiku challenge - 56

It drizzled at lunch

while I was out for a walk;

a break in the day

100 haiku challenge - 55

Sun behind the trees

silhouetted in yellow

and each other's shapes.

100 haiku challenge - 54

We walked an alley 

and enjoyed glowing backyards

in the dark evening.

100 haiku challenge - 53

I hear the traffic

almost more than birds outside.

Life in the city.

100 haiku challenge - 52

I watched a hawk fly

right behind some errant crows

against a pink sky.

100 haiku challenge - 51

Raptors circling

in the bright blue sky today.

I smiled on my walk.

April 5 poem

 A Full Moon Rite That Began On A Bus To A Train To A Library To Vote

Networks ripple along errands and indulgence,

sacred conversation in person, over text

I bought some books and supper and made

a sigil between courses and sips of rosé

The sunset drew a blanket over the house,

something to keep in the flow, the fire & work

Here is the harvest of living, at the beginning,

at the end, an invitation to ashes, to smoke

So much is broken, open like a cracked egg

or a wasp's next, or a heart's chambers

This is not square one, this built environment of

intention; this is the invitation behind shadow

My racing heart and warning thoughts are well-

known, but have never before been here

Burn of letting go and asking for a present I

can love and honor fills the house even after hours

I will sleep in the lingering campfire, the reminder

that surrender is a set of tasks, like dying

Spears of autumn's flowers poke up from last year's

delights and become entirely other than

Each seed carries stories it must tell to learn

and grow to understand and only for one season:

how strong the sun on a day of bumblebees

how delicate the wind after lashing rain and clippers

Which part of me is the gentle spring soil, the first

warmth of sunshine welcoming leaves to uncrumple

Where is the warmth that remembers to protect

such airy matter, lush model of the life to come

Each threshold bears a prayer of gratitude,

a blessing of honor, a thrum of together

It is only to be present. It is not reaching for next.

It is not yearning for better than was.

I smell the smoke of spellwork and feel my skin

grow itself anew like champagne or centipedes

The moon keeps its counsel tonight and I frolic in

its wake, tenderly and on toward morning

100 haiku challenge - 50

My shoes were still damp

after my morning dance class.

The rain cooled us down.

100 haiku challenge - 49

Breeze through the window

blows on my arm as I write.

Outside is close by.

100 haiku challenge - 48

The rain is not much

dropping on my scalp and neck.

A gentle spring storm.

100 haiku challenge - 47

Over the traffic

I hear birds whistle and chirp

from here down the road.