We Try to Matter We try to preserve it, our story, we try to matter. Life is a series of little attempts. Not just now, but forever, we believe that slick technology or really rich posole, or the right lover at the right hour with the right. . . what ? . . . astrology sign... Continue Reading →
A foot of snow has fallen. Or more. The world carries that post-snowstorm quiet. As if the snow pulled down all the noise and chaos. Lay it on the ground. Covered it in soft, calm, white. And let it go to sleep. I don’t want to shovel. I don’t want the snow plows to... Continue Reading →
Teach your children well. Let them know when to protest, when to pray. If sink or swim are the options, tell them to swim. Always. Teach your children well. Make mistakes, but own them. Make cookies. Lots of them. Make rules, and bend them carefully and only if necessary. Teach your children well. Trust them.... Continue Reading →
An Anti-Trump Poetry Reading It begins with listening. As writers resist I hear ridicule of the ridiculous. I hear more, again, no! Hands and penises and size... No. Like eating ice cream with my ears brain freeze I stop listening. It begins with listening. A dozen synonyms for orange. Tangerine. Cantaloupe. No! All fruit all... Continue Reading →
Having someone's hands in your mouth is one of the most unfortunate, and memorable, experiences of a lifetime. Whether it frightens you to death, or simply reminds you of but another tedium of modern medicine, when that practitioner dons those nightmare blue latex gloves, wiggles their fingers into them tightly, and casually says 'open wide,'... Continue Reading →
We stitch together what we can from our lives, avidly trying to make sense of it all. Yesterday's subtle sunset in the west, a simple display of gray swathes with a few thin golden lines, lovely and soft, essential but not memorable. Lo and behold, turn around and that same simple daily decsent has indeed... Continue Reading →
Yesterday's hike revealed crashing waterfalls. Okay, not like Niagara, but nonetheless wonderful flows charging down the boulders. As I neared the mountain, or better said, as I left houses and neighborhoods behind--we're all on the mountain after all--I spotted several happy rivulets flowing near the trail, and sometimes across the trail. I followed the largest... Continue Reading →
I hate snot. Thick wet gray green globs at the edge of, or protruding from, a nose will make me gag or heave far before poop or blood or bad beans in the fridge. If there is a tongue inching toward said globs, or making contact, I will, without a doubt, lose my groceries. Granted,... Continue Reading →
Years ago when we lived in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in a wonderful little adobe house with two rosebushes, a pomegranate tree, and an apricot tree that hung over the neighbor's fence into our yard (and with fruit, location is ownership, right?), many of the neighbors had suns hanging on the porches or on the... Continue Reading →
I had a boss once who, when I knocked on her door to wish her well on her vacation, looked up, and said, "Anne Marie, unless you are dying, I do not have time for you." Well, what else could I do after that but write a poem? So I did. Unless You're Dying* for... Continue Reading →
pocket poet 