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 […]
Category: Poetry
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 […]
The Heart Doesn’t Care About What The Head Knows
The Heart Doesn’t Care About What The Head Knows My body is making a new shape although I carry the past with me. I morph toward what’s next. I — oh — what is that shape? I move my whole body down. I sit my butt between my hips without touching the ground. I perch […]
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 […]
I’ll Write About It Until I Feel Done: Forever
Would you believe me now if I told you I was happy? That I get why I was too much, too full of feeling that pushes people away? That I see unhappiness in all its forms, how I want to push it away, too. How difficult it is too be with difficulty. How I brushed […]
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 […]
What’s Your Story?
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]