Not a team player,
Change likes to spike the ball –
first to the net, a master
derailing strategy
I sit on the sidelines –
age having dulled reflexes –
amused that I ever thought
I could beat such an opponent.
(Image my own)
Category: aging
Post-Celebration Pause
A wrapping paper remnant
glimmers beside sofa leg
Uneaten chocolates and
sugar cookie delights tempt
The chorus of voices
fades into mind’s recesses
The fullness of the day
tucked warmly within
The advantage of age
is the ability to imbibe
in the post-celebration pause.
(Wishing everyone the warmest of pauses this holiday season.)
No Adjectives Necessary
Robin is absent
Winter’s silence
inviting retreat
Children embrace adventure
while I, behind panes,
watch fluctuations
await harbinger’s return.
(This poem was written for a challenge from my poetry circle: to write a poem without adjectives. Image my own).
Great Blue Flies In and Out
Heron steps into my dream,
cachinnating…
paradigm shifts,
and I am awake
brooding over
the invasion
remembering days
we lived in tandem –
Great Blue and I –
that Texan winter
I brace for Northern cold,
and heron, on departure, laughs
(Image my own)
Pondering Abstracts
The certainty of yesterday
has slipped our grasp
light deflecting truth
tosses us into the abstract
I ponder process
and outcomes,
will my mind to carry me
gliding between thermals
dissolving into vapours
Some realities
too hard to bear –
dislodged
we tread the indeterminate.
(Poem originally appeared on One Woman’s Quest II, December ’19. Image my own)
Varnish
Ice has blown in overnight
tree branches coated,
sparkling…
… I search for a word
evasive, my fogged brain
having released so many
to the void…
“Varnish?” I ask aloud
“What’s that?” comes an answer
my son-in-law always helpful
spies my hand on butcher block
“Do you mean the finish on the wood?
That’s varnish, yes.”
“No.” I bite my trembling lip.
Indicate the scene outside the window,
the tree with its new shiny coat
“Like varnish!” he exclaims
“That works.”
“Nature’s varnish!” I proclaim
Creativity –
a sometimes bi-product
of a faulty mind.
(Image my own)
Still Alive (Haiku)
All the fading bits
detract – I am still alive,
passion asserting
(Living with chronic illness, the onset of Winter can be a very discouraging time. I write to remind myself that I am not that easy to deter. )
Gliding
In isolation, I am rock –
solid, fearless, present
Memories are moon-bows –
miracle of love, whispers
of what might have been
Will not let current fear
shape me; I am tethered
to faith, gently gliding.
(Image my own)
Trinkets
I’m returning the jewels
loaned to me
Settling
for smaller trinkets…
…a teddy bear
a paper parasol…
I know it’s been a while
but I haven’t forgotten
It’s harder these days
relying on others
Accommodations unnerve
so I stay away…
…a silver ring
a hat for Teddy…
It’s enough really
I haven’t much to spend
but your faith in me
means a lot
and warmed by our connection
I’m willing to invest…
I don’t need diamonds or pearls
just trinkets to remind me…
(Image my own)
Mastery
Happenstance welcome,
dreamer that I am
Loyal to memories
and committed to progress
Professional ambitions unrequited,
I seek new avenues…
Failure a nag
provokes hesitation
Let me be!
I am independent!
This path is unique
and while I dwell
in contemplation of what ifs
I recognize my challenges,
the unreliability of illness,
expect no encores
Easier to focus
on what I can master
today.
(Watercolour mine)
One Woman's Quest 