Living in a Material World

2009-12-11T14:53:00.000-05:00

all
fall down

and we all
do, sooner or later

stunned,
shaken,
disbelieving
that the unsteady ground
would give way
to elastic legs,
and slippered paws

in a brittle-boned
betrayal

2009-12-10T23:31:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday Emily Dickinson

eighteen hundred poems,
really?

how wonderful you
bothered to write them
and how wonderful someone
bothered to count.

2009-08-29T20:52:00.000-04:00

Why, why, WHY???

2009-07-13T23:56:00.001-04:00

fireworks burst and
light up the sky
while petals explode
in the flower garden

2009-07-12T18:32:00.000-04:00

Purple coneflowers again
they take my breath away!
every single summer
it's as though
I'm seeing them
for the very first time,
these old friends.

2009-07-11T18:10:00.000-04:00

a baby blue jay
clinging to a magnolia
posing like a pro

2009-07-03T18:27:00.000-04:00

I spent the day trying to catch hummingbirds
and the night trying to catch my breath.

2009-07-10T18:25:00.000-04:00

sometimes the things that most
pain me are tiny and barely noticed by most,
grey nuanced subtleties and prickles,
rather than splashy, full-blown atrocities

I think I respect a shouted I hate you
more than a whispered I know what's best

2009-07-09T18:19:00.000-04:00

Black-eyed Susans?
Really? Why not
Brown-eyed Donnas?

(Life is so unfair.)

2009-07-06T18:17:00.000-04:00

prehistoric posies, all silver and spikey
conjure my imagination and I search for
bitty dinosaurs under the leaves

2009-07-01T18:14:00.000-04:00

"Crocosmia Lucifer"

I had never met one before today!
How could something so wonderous
be named so poorly???

2009-06-23T20:12:00.000-04:00

I keep coming back
to flowers; maybe because
they don't let me down?

2009-06-18T17:47:00.000-04:00

come on over and
see my pantry; it's disguised
as a crepe myrtle

2009-06-16T18:37:00.000-04:00

standing out in this
strangely unfamiliar
crowd, not only because she's
my daughter
but for all of the
events we've shared
when she smiles
my heart melts,
when she cries,
my soul drowns

the walls of the cocoon
grow thinner,
winglets
move to ready position

2009-06-17T18:20:00.000-04:00

purple-petalled plants
like regal stars basking in
June's green abundance

2009-06-13T23:05:00.000-04:00

treasures from Tibet . . .
but all that really matters
is that one treasure,
my sister,
came home

2009-06-14T23:03:00.000-04:00

wonderful how things
look better in the daylight
than the night before

2009-06-12T11:39:00.000-04:00

No kidding, this is the guy I found at Wegmans yesterday. When I first saw him, well, I really didn't see him, I saw the shirt, you know? I mean, what kind of a nut wears a shirt like this? I figured he was either just a fun-loving man with a strange sense of humor or he could be more seriously loco en la cabesa. Soon after spotting him I took a look at the bigger picture, at how others around him were reacting. It was very interesting, following at a distance, seeing people approach him, read the shirt while pretending not to read the shirt. Some glanced away quickly, not wanting to dignify him with a reaction. Others stared and looked as if to say "shame!" A few tried to supress a bit of a smile. Some rolled their eyes once they had passed him. It was so curious how guarded most held their reactions. Sure, the shirt was telling about him; but this experience was also telling about people whose paths crossed his. But it was telling, too, about me. What kind of a guy wears a shirt like this, but what kind of a middle-aged, middle-class person like me finds this whole thing so intriguing that she follows this guy, pays so much attention to the attention he is getting, then follows him out of the store to take his photo?

I seriously need a life.

2009-05-24T09:17:00.001-04:00

Be yourself,
be who you are
as long as it
is good

Stand out
from the crowd,
make a difference,
leave a mark,
but try to fit in

Follow the signs:
walk
don't walk
yield
stop
detour
parking lot full

Take good care
hold hands
be nice
don't get hurt by mean people

Live every day
Live like today was your last
Have hope for tomorrow
Learn from the past
Pray everyday
Work hard
Play hard
Eat your vegetables
Move
but not too far

2009-06-08T09:05:00.000-04:00

some study surface
design in an expensive
class; I find a tree

2009-06-07T08:59:00.000-04:00

the sum of the parts
make up the whole, but even
some holes make the whole

2009-06-06T21:29:00.000-04:00

sitting in thick mud
hosta unfurls multitudes
of white-tipped leaves

2009-06-05T17:46:00.000-04:00

did you ever
feel like you were
home plate?
while the key players
hit home runs
or foul balls
or strike one-two-threes,
running in circles all
around you?
but you couldn't
run with them
because you were
frozen,
stuck,
staying the course,
waiting for the next
full body slide
or on the flip side
the leaps and bounding
that come from
euphoria?
did you ever
wonder when
someone would
ask you how
your day went
and then listen
to the answer?
did you ever
want to run
those bases, too,
taking chances,
maybe even
being the hero?
did you ever
feel like
if you one day
just fell asleep
and didn't wake up
that no one would
notice until
they got hungry
for dinner?
did you ever feel
tired for no reason
in particular,
wilting from
neglect?
hey,
pitcher, pitcher,
watch where
you wipe your feet.

2009-06-09T09:01:00.000-04:00

I was startled the
day I noticed that even
flowers can look sad

2009-06-04T13:43:00.000-04:00

5 minutes on "Defrost"
is all it takes
for an idea to simmer
and a project to percolate