Bliss by Nancy Schatz Alton I step into the space I make it soothing, sacred liminal a place to linger, listen spiral & breathe I breathe here becoming who I once was I read in reading my words the world is a stage it’s calling me back my girl who yearns to perform to hold […]
With Joy
The grey is back. It’s the backdrop I need for my waiting to hit the stage of my own classroom tonight. I’m teaching adults for the first time. A few adults. I’m leaving out the words only or just even as I hear them in my head. But it’s powerful, deciding to show up for […]
My Voice
My Voice* by Nancy Schatz Alton “Rhythm is the heartbeat of the world.” -Randy Ford My voice is the dance in the song of this life. I write down my voice in words. But when I read my words: they explode. They find their place in the universe of us. Of all of us. […]
Sword Fern
Sword Fern by Nancy Schatz Alton I am shimmering toward newness swept full green into the unknown body. I am no longer my old self. If you were here sunlight would change how you see me. I’m brighter now I mean I’m still bogged down by life’s expiration date dark as they come with dyed […]
Culmination
Last night, I dreamed someone hired me sight unseen. Before bed I walked beneath a clear, starlit sky, happy. I’ve fed myself decades of get-to-calm tips until this culmination: waking to good news sleep-delivered to my hungry soul.
Hello Out There? Anyone Out There?
Today it feels like I’m throwing my work into the void. I prefer the work reverberates back to me. But that’s not how it works sometimes. I’ve spent a lot of time on parenting these last 17 years. When your kids are young, everything you do reverberates back to you. I mean they bounce it […]
Whoosh
Today is so long. And I keep brushing up against poetry about the endings of relationships. Not just romantic ones. Friend ones, too. Both are hard, but me thinks friendships strike me as harder. That’s probably because I never had a long-term romantic relationship before my husband. And I’ve had a billion friendships. But anyway, […]
Desert
The whisk makes her rounds in the metal bowl. We hear her in the other room. My husband stirs enough magic to coerce Kk back to the dining room table. With pressure, the whipped cream streams from container to pudding top. Four bowls and we have communion. A new inside joke about cows. Ten more […]
The Ordinary
What’s ours but the now? How I feel in this one skin. Cold although the sun shines, the winter sun. How I play Bach because his work eases words from brain to fingers to page. The seltzer in the water fizzes. Not every minute is as exciting as the dancer who moves her body into shapes not […]
Restless Creatures
Restless creatures by Nancy Schatz Alton So long I love you Long I love you We love & love & love We leave I meet your spark I spark you spark We spark We love in the moment between moments It was only a moment It was a year Or years Or 90 minutes Within […]