Forecast: Stormy Weather by Nancy Schatz Alton After the storm, I am calm. After the storm: I grow tired of writing about the storm. After the storm, people in the middle of the storm call me. After the storm: I listen to people in the storm. After the storm, I know […]
Author: Nancy Schatz Alton
Tea
Tea* By Nancy Schatz Alton I begin with tea heated in two cups. I read the poems out loud while it steeps. I steep my brain in words, sift, stir & speak. I sing the song in spoken verse. I try to make a song that sticks, that feeds me the way tea […]
Teens: The Fire and the Flood
An Ode to the Teens “You’re the fire and the flood” -Vance Joy Teens are a revelation and a joy. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. They are the fire and the flood. The burning and the waking, the quaking and the trees (growing leaves) that shake our house. Their leaves are red and orange […]
A Durable Sweater Set
A Durable Sweater Set by Nancy Schatz Alton The girl with the blue sweater grades papers. She looks more put together than me. A girl with a plan, a purpose, a sweater set, her life just beginning. I’ve always thought if I had the right clothes, everything else I wanted would arrive on time. […]
Monday Candy
Monday Candy by Nancy Schatz Alton The coffee shop is cold, patrons ease into Monday. The dog exhales in white puffs. Ritual makes the work week easier. I push into word tasks. See the light orange persimmons pop against bare branches? The dog exhales in white puffs. Ritual turns Sunday’s losses into a fading […]
Belonging
While I watched a dance performance today, I couldn’t stop think about belonging. The urge to belong: it’s such a deep longing: I feel it in my bone marrow, it makes my limbs feel heavy. How we often feel like we are on the sidelines, not knowing the steps to fit in. How a dance […]
Dart & Settle
This word is one small stone. I lift it up onto the page because I told myself I’d keep going. I’d keep writing here every day past my November goal. Why? I can be sarcastic and mean to myself and say these words don’t matter except I know they do matter for me. I’m writing […]
They Come & Go
They Come & Go by Nancy Schatz Alton I sing praise to what remains: the living room lit by tiny lights my family talking me returning. All the phrases that help remind me of what remains these phrases swirl & catch & hit the light. it could have been otherwise there was always […]
Soil, Dirt, Dirty
I am trying to take it all in. The mornings that I am gracious and open, offering my daughter a hug when she says I think I’m sick. The mornings I’m not kind and I get to apologize. The way it feels to be wrong again. The way it feels to learn to apologize. How […]
My Story
My Story * by Nancy Schatz Alton Put your stories down, they say— they are too heavy and they make you angry. You want a prettier word for make. Furthermore you want the I. The I of your stories to say, It happened to me. Oh life, you gave me this grief and […]