Things Once Green October 10, 2011

Legs hot
Neck cold
Staring in the fire
At the secrets it holds
Released in the heat
White, orange, gold.

Pitch black
Starry sky
Fire light flashes
When I close my eyes
Punctuates the thoughts
Rolling through my mind.

Quiet night
Nature sounds
All the crickets sing
And leaves rustle ’round
Here the small, still voice
I have found.

Sweet cloves
Cinnamon stars
My mouth waters
From the taste in my heart
For the moment content
Right where we are.

October smells
Crisp and comforting
Fresh like apple cider
And sun-baked leaves
The steam of hot coffee
And things once green.

Three-Season Girl November 13, 2010

For the briefest of moments
With new eyes I see
The white winter sky
As bright and pretty.

With wise trees standing
In the in between
All pretenses dropped
Crisp and clean.

I marvel, enraptured
By the peace found there
In the quiet simplicity
Courageous and bare.

My life a stark contrast
Rarely coming to rest
Scheduled and chaotic
An organized mess.

Every now and again
I try to pare it down
To make empty spaces
For me all around.

But like my kitchen table
And my dresser top
Clutter sneaks back in
The noise and the slop.

And I think I must like it
‘Cuz I can’t make it stop.

With a blink of my eyes
The fresh perspective’s gone
No longer captivated
The sky is grey and dull.

The silence of winter
Soon feels so wrong
Oppressive and heavy
Unbearably long.

Though maybe there’s a lesson
To be learned from the seasons
The evenly paced circle
Might be for good reasons.

When I’m discontent
I make the pendulum swing
One extreme to the other
It’s not a good thing.

The lead of Mother Nature
Maybe I should follow
Creating beauty
Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall.

Or maybe I should quit trying
To be something I’m not
I’m a three-season girl
Planted in the wrong spot.

Short Vacation February 28, 2010

My breath is shallow
and my thoughts run deep.
To change either
an impossible feat.

One deep breath
sends pain through my ribs and jaw
And instead of making silence
my mind plays pinball.

I consider these things
while I try to fall asleep.
Just one of the many thoughts
that flash and beep.

And I desperately wish to slip
into a restorative stream
where angels can work on me
while I dream.

But I can’t seem
to close the distance
Not by sheer will
nor letting go of all resistance.

Running on empty
no rest or regeneration
Nothing exhausts me
like a short vacation.

Jamming all the fun
into a small pocket of time
A handful of days
away from the grind.
Sucking the juice out life
bursting excitement, a slice of lime.

A pace not easy
to keep up
leaves me wishing
for a larger cup.
Or more trips
to the table to sup.

Gone December 24, 2009

Just one day

with nothing to say

makes me nervous.

Poof!  Gone.