Blog

  • Gardening’s End

    Photograph by Gypsie-Ami Offenbacher-Ferris

    One weed pulled
    and then two,
    It’s then I realized
    that was all I could do.

    Before I could plant
    a full bush or a tree,
    Years ago I never realized
    it was then I was free.

    Today as I tried
    valiantly to stand,
    I looked down
    at the spade in my hand.

    Slipping it back
    into the waiting flower pot,
    I had to turn and say goodbye
    but I loved you a lot.

  • My Shelter

    In response to bwarren’s Sunday Whirl Wordle #746

    You were my shelter
    the rocks that formed my foundation
    were lain by you

    A step along the front line of defense
    against the ravages of my flesh
    leaving little more than a messy ghost behind

    You rose to the fight
    refusing to settle for the mere scrap
    of woman I had become

    You left unwillingly or perhaps willingly
    who will ever know
    not I as I lay here on the edge and tremble


  • The Snowdrop Bush

    In response to Bartholomew Barker’s
    March Visual Poetry Prompt

    He asked her to place
    his most favorite plant
    in front of his headstone
    on the grave where he would lay

    She remembered as she sprawled prone
    upon the grassy hillside
    of the aged little cemetery
    how he’d looked into her green-gray eyes

    How he’d implored her to put the bush just here
    where it would grow so well
    requesting that a year after his death she gather
    a flower bouquet to deeply inhale it’s fragrance

    In this way he explained with love
    and utter undying devotion
    she would remember him truly
    and together they would be again

    As the world around her darkened and she could
    no longer feel the green grass at her back
    she thought of the lovely Snowdrop blooms
    still clutched in her stiffening hands

    What’d he’d said was real and true she now knew
    as she faded into darkness she found him waiting
    standing at the door to eternity holding a tuft
    of poisonous Snowdrop’s in his hand

  • FATE

    Paying attention
    no cell phone
    no texting
    no drinking or eating
    and still it happened

    Not speeding
    not swerving
    not daydreaming
    not tailgating or rough-shodding
    and still it happened

    A flash of brown
    then another
    then a sickening thud
    then a screech or a cry I’m not sure
    and the beautiful doe now lay dead

    Cruel are these contriving manipulative fates
    deciding life
    deciding death
    deciding who or what can go on
    and leaving the rest here to wonder why

  • Relapse

    In response to Bartholomew Barker’s Monday Poetry Prompt: RELAPSE

    It draws me in
    it’s sparkling white powder
    beckoning hungrily

    Just a little – it taunts
    a taste that is all
    it lures me with it’s deceptive spell

    The twisting begins
    low in my stomach
    the wanting and then the needing

    Tortuous waiting
    knowing failure
    stalks me upon each hour deprived

    Within the darkened kitchen
    tucked into the corner cabinet
    the clear baggy awaits retrieval

    My fingers tremble
    in desperate anticipation
    reaching to grab my treasure

    Only a nip or two
    I tell myself but soon
    the entire contents are devoured

    White powder sticks to my lips
    I lick my fingers clean
    the sugary donut is gone –

    diabetic coma be damned
    that was good!

  • A Promise

    In response to bwarren’s Sunday Whirl Wordle #745

    A promise is
    a shroud of lies
    Obscured by the glow
    of the summer moon

    Secret symbols
    of stolen love
    Cross a rock strewn trail
    sinking beneath dirty water

    Bloody tracks glisten
    in the sun
    Marking the spot where his spear
    pierced her swollen heart

  • Outlived

    What were your parents doing at your age?

    My mother a smoker
    as a very young girl,
    because smoking was sexy
    it was all the rage,
    sadly never saw my age,
    I am ten years past
    the year she let go.

    Father, not one to be left alone,
    quickly turned around and married
    a mean little witch,
    such a switch it was
    because a mother she would never be,
    she murdered my father
    at age only seventy-three.

  • Insurance Dilemma

    Diabetes is a sneaky tricky disease
    makes you crave foods that you can never have
    an obsession the likes of an addict of sugar

    Chocolate cake with the sweetest frosting
    then a dab or two of chilly ice cream
    and a bright red cherry to top it all off

    Oh no says my nemesis my angst and my bane
    you should not have indulged
    poke poke poke the needles again

    Finally comes a miracle to aid in the fight
    instead of five shots or more each day of my life
    this one just once a week must I brave

    What a reprieve what a joy
    test results come my way
    glucose stable at last I think I’m saved

    No no no the insurance rep balks
    too easy for you is this new fangled drug
    it’s back to vials and needles and pricks to be done

    I’m wondering now why I bother at all
    to visit my doctor and his wonderful staff
    when in truth insurance is in charge of it all

  • Broken Wings

    In response to bwarren’s Sunday Whirl Wordle #743

    One breath, then another,
    to breathe elicits pain.
    Stop breathing, stop hurting.

    Torn pieces spin
    around a shattered heart.
    Cracks stretch across broken wings.

    Beneath the wings,
    a chest is split open,
    love cringes in the chaos.

    Life hesitates,
    Searching, reaching, longing
    for the lost ship.

  • Lightning

    Picture by Johan Swanepoel

    A light in his eyes am I
    a bright flash of lightning
    trapped within a multitude of storm clouds

    Once the bright streak has faded
    the fluffy large cumulonimbus
    become the center of his existence

    Until the energy builds and builds
    the tempest becomes immense
    then he seeks the heat of the lightning again