I Praise You, Cold Front
October 31, 2019
Meteorological change
whips the rain away
shifts gravity
Suddenly, the leaves are horizontal
the trunks bend but do not break
I am a tree this year
A giant poplar
I praise you, cold front
I will bend
I will not break
Dulcimer, Sweet Song
October 30, 2019
In my lap
a 38 year old child
is cradled
a feather plucks
strings reverberate in heart-shaped holes
A Simple Gift it is
Christmas, 1981
Once it got lost in Stuttgart
rode the train to the end of the line
I cried and prayed
Three months later
a UPS man stood at my door
the handmade case intact
the graceful shape nestled in green felt
Now, I play for international students
They applaud the sweet song
Follow Close in the Fog
October 29, 2019
Headlights dim
reflect back at me
engulfed by droplets
dense in the air
vapored cloud low
wraps my car in shadow
Suddenly, red lights up ahead
two wink at me
“Come hither”
my car speeds up
I tailgate
follow lights instead of invisible lanes
Once, I hiked 25 miles around Sheffield
Across heathered moors
all night long
I followed the heels of my friend
as he trod
my eyes never straying
in the moonless fog
Sight is a gift
which often is blind
Undulate
October 28, 2019
Waves of curls and locks
spindle from the fleece
barnyard smells released
we wash
we wash
we wash again
tease out organic matter
card gently
like combing your granddaughter’s hair
roll into rolags
and SPIN.
The waves want to live forever
undulate around each other
like tiny shingles
they twist at the oriface
feed onto the spool
Warm wool
soft and fuzzy
let me smell you
feel you
stare at you
wear you
Maggie’s Shoulders
October 27, 2019
shoulders drafted like the wool
pulled gently forward
towards the spinning wheel
the Mother of All
the maidens
the flyer
the bobbin
the drive band
hands smoothed by the start of the whirl
worn patina of singing wood
the lanolin of the fleece
feet treadle
walk in joy
up and down
up and down
up and down
heart of fingers
open and close
open and close
open and close
she is the draft
the wheel
the sheep
and the wool
Spin
October 19, 2019
Spin, little wheel, spin
Help my feet and fingers to work together
in some symbiotic grace
help me find the rhythm and synchronicity
of different movements
as One
May I meditate as I go
pulling wool, washed and carded,
through steady fingers as prayer
May my feet move like a horse’s
even gait
up and down
fueling the movement
round and round
May I not prick my finger
nor lose patience
But Learn
become accomplished
Spin, little wheel, Spin.
The Day the Crickets Quit Singing, October 18, 2019
October 18, 2019
something’s different
prayers evolve
then silence
the tree frogs are long gone,
the cicadas, the katydids
but I thought you’d last longer
Ichthyologists
October 16, 2019
fish bones like fossils,
framed, scaled
their eyes are gone
gutted
we tour the one room middle Georgia museum
learn about stripers, trout, large-mouth bass
brim interpretation
catfish before it’s on your plate
my child-sons and I are Ichthyologists
we need no depth finder or map
no binoculars
or line
the fish are frozen in time
the pine walls
golden, green, heads
fins hover
cannot swim away
Worry Stone
October 16, 2019
I rub the two inch fossil in my hand
Petrified wood
36 million years old
Rust-colored
smooth as a mother’s hand
on my forehead
cool
I hold it to my ear like a seashell
and hear the oceans tumble
fade
36 million years ago.
My thumb finds the ledge
My hand grips the rock like Jesus
I return it next to my rosary.
Do Not Fear
October 15, 2019
365
times
in scripture
“Do not fear.”
angels
prophets
psalmists
Jesus
Creator God
invoke us, command us
not to be afraid.
And yet we are.
Paralysis grips our larynx
Handshakes give us away
the abdomen breath ignored
Paul, I cannot wait to meet you!
Mary, Joseph, Jesus still fully human
Peter hung upside down
Early Christians in arenas
Underground church
and the women who would not let go
for daughters, healing
crumbs like dogs
Julian and Teresa
Your radical choices
Anchorites
and Wise Men
And the Little Children
who came unto Him
magnetized
the boy who shared his loaf
Prostituted women
tax collectors greed
stones
and beatings
jail cells
Morbid death
Do not fear?
For I am with you.
That’s all we need to know.