Sometimes, without noticing,
I nudge the lid open
and out spills
those sadnesses, deep and heavy.
Regrets, not so much of things
I didn’t have,
but conduct and words I wish
I had done or not
done.
Small things that I remember,
disappointments I could have changed
into morning glories,
bright blue and heavenly
as the Madonna’s cloak.
***First Sunday of Lent 2019
You are the parable:
the lost lamb, the goat amongst sheep,
a mustard seed, the feast
and the dinner guests,
a fig tree, barren and budding.
All these stories are your story-
the prodigal-
Don’t you remember that time when you fought
and said things you shouldn’t have
and all that stuff was so unforgivable.
But it wasn’t.
And now here you are with a family and children
of your own and you are cherished beyond
measure.
Or you are the eldest, the good girl that never
gave them a minutes worry. And you had to welcome
that no good son of bitch back
after he climbed out of the pig sty and cleaned himself up.
But now you know,
’cause you have been the prodigal too.
A parable, a pearl of great price, a seed sown in good soil,
a wise servant, a friend at midnight.
One who was lost
now found.
Lent 2019
is it irony
this leaving of cold dark winter
into the light of spring
just as he learns of the darkness in his body
and the radiation that will slow its journey
into spring
and his lessened future.
is it mercy
this praying for his life, his light
we have nothing to sacrifice other
than the burnt offering that he will become
under the merciless eye of
the ticking machine
and his lessoned future
love and friendship are our only traveling mercies
as he journeys into the spring of his foreseeable future
Psalm 51:15-17 Lent 2019
A good friend begins his journey. We are walking with him on his path as far as we can. We love him so and ask for mercy.
Unconsciously, I think my husband knows its Ash Wednesday,
the beginning of Lent.
He is busy arranging things on the table top
and the smell of bleach cleaner is coming from the bathroom
where he has sprayed down the shower stall.
I need to dust, our prescribed arrangement of household chores,
he vacuums, I dust.
Dust to dust, ashes to ashes, I sing song to myself
as I look for the Murphy’s Oil Soap.
I tear an old towel into pieces-
Rend not your clothing, but your heart, the prophet tells us.
My heart has had enough rending, thank you very much, and
I think it is high time to darn the pieces together again.
So this is my Ash Wednesday prayer, this beginning of Lent,
that my heart be stitched back into place, that
its brokenness is plastered over and smoothed.
That the grief of the past long years be no longer bright flames
but ash and dust,
ashes to ashes,
dust to dust.
Joel 2:12-13 Ash Wednesday 2019
The sound of boat or plane
from this distance, I can’t tell which.
The sky resolves into water
from this distance, I can’t tell which
and does it matter.
The leaping fish, rising into the air,
the diving bird, swimming in the sea-
am I fish or fowl in this melodrama?
Rising into the air, breathing salty seas,
feathers, wet and glistening
diving deep.
The soul swims in its own tide,
rising and falling at heavens ebb.
Sarah Whiteley, a talented poet and I’m happy to say, a good friend, has a new book of poems coming out soon. And she dropped by to give us a little sneak peek!
Here’s a note to you from Sarah….
My dear and talented friend Kathleen is graciously allowing me to sneak over into her space for a moment in order to let her fine readers know about my new chapbook, Wandering Wonderful.
From the moment I first started to read Kathleen’s work and to connect with her outside of The Course of Our Seasons, I just knew that we were kindred spirits. I love our similarities and equally love our differences and I’m hoping that just maybe you will find and love those same similarities and differences.
In any case, I hope that you will enjoy this sneak peak from Wandering Wonderful.
tree talk
the sawara doesn’t give up its secrets –
you have to come back again
and again let your hands ask of it
the same questions
and maybe stop by sometimes to see if
the copper beech has something new to say
one day, I found the blue feathers
of a Steller’s jay lying under the cedar
likely the work of a hungry hawk,
though the wisps of bark were silent
on that question too
Wandering Wonderful will be released in May, but pre-orders are available now through Finishing Line Press here: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/wandering-wonderful-by-sarah-whiteley/
Thanks, Sarah, for sharing this exciting news with us! I can’t wait to have a copy of your book this spring.
reflections of a thousand moons
in the eye of the lake
the window of old snow
the mirror of the wind
the spoon of the cloud
in a bucket
a bird bath
a puddle
a polished sliver of petrified wood
on a crystal
a prism
a crackerjack ring
a brass button from an old coat
within a raindrop
a dewdrop
a clear blue sky
the glass of the frame
where your photo smiles
the door where once you stood
the life you lived
for a thousand moons
