I’ve no words! 😢

I rely on the art of others...

 January 20, 2021 (Excert from "The Hill We Climb")

"...And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us,

but what stands before us.

We close the divide because we know to put our future first,

we must first put our differences aside.

We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another.

We seek harm to none and harmony for all.

Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true.

That even as we grieved, we grew.

That even as we hurt, we hoped.

That even as we tired, we tried.

That we'll forever be tied together victorious.

Not because we will never again know defeat,

but because we will never again sow division. ...

...When day comes, we step out of the shade aflame and unafraid.

The new dawn balloons as we free it.

For there is always light.

If only we're brave enough to see it.

If only we're brave enough to be it."

        --Amanda Gorman

N.B. written as I heard it and may contain an error or two

 

"I have decided to stick with love.

Hate is too great a burden to bear."

                                                        --MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

 

 200 Words or Less # 3

we’d seen her a couple of times
from a distance
silently skimming the ground in front of our path

another day, 10 feet overhead

as she enters a thick stand of trees

without making a single sound

how?

at pre-dawn I walk our guest’s dog

I spot her seated at the top of a nearby oak tree

that evening the guest goes out to retrieve an item from the car

he hears her,

“no mistaking it”

one morning, well after day break,

I slip past my husband to fetch a 2nd cup of coffee

he stage whispers,

“look, look at her!”

she sits comfortably on our deck rail

I grab my phone

she obliges by turning her head our way

seemingly unimpressed, she turns back

then we hear a crow

just one, then many

she glances back our way

and in a flash she’s gone

followed by a trail of crows

ah, but she leaves us a gift,

of sorts,

a regurgitated pellet,

stuffed with tiny bones

100 Words or Less, # 1

 

Coffee’d lips pressed to your sweet smelling skin

Open parks and forests call to us

Roll the dice

One time won’t hurt

Normalcy hath been disrupted 

Abrupt and mishandled,

Viral pandemic hath rained upon the world

It’s warm, shall I open the windows?

Risk, likelihood, gamble, benefits, consequences 

Unclenching, your tiny hands relax

Sleep, sweet soul, as silence spills, surrounds and saturates

200 Words or Less, #2

we are smiling as we approach the grocery store in the river town

as we've noticed the familiar transit van from our county

our county

which lies across the muddy river 

in a completely different state 

we seem to see our county transit van everywhere 

transporting seniors 

to their destinations

from a rural food desert 

to a grocery store 

maybe to the doctor’s office 

providing rides in an area with no bus 

or train

or Uber 

I hear an unmistakable sound 

wretch 

heave 

or as my grandson calls it, “un-swallowing” 

a frail man on bended knee 

head bent as if in prayer

nothing seems to come of his repeated efforts

a transit driver stands idle

her back to him on the opposite side of the van 

a faraway look in her eye  

my brain runs through well meaning questions 

and responses 

sir, do you need help? 

thanks but, I can vomit on my own

may I get you anything? 

perhaps just privacy...

bypassing the juice aisle

I buy a bottle of water

as an offering

but he is gone

so is the van

and the suns casts an iridescent dazzle on the emerald bile

200 Words or Less, #1

“Sometimes I don’t feel like running, but when finished I’m always pleased.”

“Ah yes,” responding with arched brow, “the hardest part is tying your shoes.”

Its diaphanous wings are dragonfly-like, but it’s smaller. It travels along side me, matching my pace.

Hey, good start but,

try staying up.

Where are your wings?

Hmm, maybe not

but, nice attempt.

Quite suddenly it darts away.

I continue pushing off, lifting one foot as my other foot has not yet touched ground. Momentarily I am airborne. Gravity yields. I alight just long enough to garner power from the planet’s core or from my body. It’s enough to propel me up and forward, again and again…

I do this for three miles, a distance that works for me. Any more and my body rebels.

I pluck a feather from the flesh near my hip

a full, though somewhat damp feather.

How did it become rooted in my body?

a transformation

no longer a 67 year old human

I am a flying being

power surging

running with the abandon of a child

one airborne step at a time

a stand of aspens bursts into applause

as I soar 'cross the finish line