Carry On

Yesterday was hard. I keep thinking I’ve grieved the losses of right now enough. That my night wakings and nightmares will cease. But yesterday I woke up from a nightmare of watching a secret Baccalaureate mass happening, seeing the graduates walk down the center aisle with glee. And we weren’t invited even though the graduates […]

Sunlight Arrives

The rays of sunlight hit the left side of my face. I know what day it is because I get to help my daughter with her schoolwork. I’m unfolding into quarantine like everyone else. With tears. Gratitude. Anger. Scrolling on social media too much and then forgiving myself. Because if I can’t be kind to […]

Run to the Sea

I saw a neighbor dad explaining to his daughter how the rain water goes into the sewer and travels to be cleaned at the plant by Discovery Park before it’s released to Puget Sound and suddenly I couldn’t breathe. The dad looked sheepishly at me, almost embarrassed by his talk, and all I could hear […]

I draw the bath

I draw the bath   by Nancy Schatz Alton “I am the patient gardener of the dry and weedy garden… I am the stone step, the latch, and the working hinge…” -Jane Kenyon   Abby prefers the nearly dead orchid to an easy succulent. Me, I’ll take the hens & chicks every time — captivated by […]

Make Me A River

You both crossed over long ago. When I was close to that crossing, I made it matter daily. I held the babies to me and really believed in God. I sucked in the sweetness of their skin; I thought perhaps that fickle God took two adults but gave me two babies. Years later, when I […]

Orange

Orange by Nancy Schatz Alton “I am lonely for myself.” -Crysta Casey   All along I was not alone—I was with myself walking — making conversation — waiting for someone to fill me up yet here I was: orange center right in my belly red heart, green chest, blue throat, an indigo cloud that took […]

Seasons of Love

Years after you are done with me I learn everyone is done with each other In due time I can’t start a poem with the conclusion I mean it’s only Monday and we have an entire week to live through Comings and goings, endings that aren’t endings Because we find a new breath that will […]

The Moon Is Mine

I’m waiting for the carpet installer to arrive. I’m thinking about how fall smells: sweet. How fall feels: a heavy, muggy warmth that heats up my skin while the cool breeze cools me down. Often the sky is an amazing blue. This last week, the moon has been starting her cycle as a sliver that […]