I’m sick of my stories. I’m a storyteller. I love telling stories. I’m stuck. Yet I’m not stuck. Because I’m at a place where I often think before I speak. What story do I want to tell? What’s my aim? Who do I want to be? I want to be positive, full of light while […]
Author: Nancy Schatz Alton
Departure + Arrival
I’m home & I’m alone My mind plans & texts My pictures speak I hang the picture of Chris & David above my desk My husband as a child: his joyful smile arrives above my desk His brother whom I hardly know stares at the camera He’s tall and thin, his jeans speak of the […]
The Summer Of
It’s the summer of sesame seeds, the summer of the smaller fridge, of fruit next to veggies, of adventure next to quiet, of the new job and heartache, of letting go because holding tight isn’t even an option. It’s the summer of the old friend who says he’s glad life is going well. Life is […]
The Last Day of July
Love is what I come back to every day In the moments of hardening I catch myself Think “love…can you get to love?” The world is windy I have tasks I can’t get to Within my reach is love The moment I ran up the hill & my friend’s son ran past me Young legs […]
Slant
The air is still The tree outside my window: still slanted I greet the day with my red pen I practice writing bearing witness to my clumsy anxiety while our country swells with misdeeds If I can stop myself mid-misdeed & apologize correct my acts, turn to love will it matter? Will being careful with […]
After “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous*”
We are collections of stories—yearning Yearning, a dog curled next to us We are full, the tops of our heads aglow with stories We are stories How we tell them matters I can tell them so many ways I can paint myself tall: Survivor I can paint myself innocent & scarred I am a runner […]
Light Is A Wave That I Ride
I bring you the sound of the waves underneath my board. I bring you my solitude — hard won, necessary. I bring you the sun, the wind, my inability to know its direction. The wind was moving; its direction didn’t matter. I kept moving & not moving. I was still & not still & the […]
Making Slides With No Film
Summer lives without a schedule. This summer, I have a new schedule, a place to work that is not home. I’m not here to say life is hard. More that I’m here because I miss the blog. To tell you that we really needed two light bulbs for our bathroom. It’s been getting dim in […]
The Pause
The tress across the street grows at a slant. I love the view outside my window: the tall cypress tree the pink roses 4 Subaru’s black bees with a touch of yellow hummingbirds, crows, bright flowers. The coffee pot hisses. This Sunday prayer of mine; I praise my view, lukewarm coffee, a dog curled into […]
Growth
It’s strange to be in my office working. Strange to look at my bulletin boards: quotes and drawings and pictures of my family. There’s a painting by Chris that sits at my eye-level. It’s a woman looking down, intent on her work. I am intent about my work. I carefully place these quotes and drawings […]