Shades (An Original Poem)

Shades

The day is dim
Though the sun should be soaking us in a warm spring
This sky
is sullen, stormy, chilly,
weeping,

In memory of you.

This week,
the world struggles to recall your light,
your tall sunflowers
cloaked in a shroud of

The loss of you.

Those fires that destroyed you,
their causes unknown
linger,
their scent
caught up with yours
behind those doors we try
to keep closed
from

The loss of you.

I try and fail
not to replay that morning
on a loop in my head,
not to board that grief train.
Instead,
I find myself
grabbing a passing rail,
missing
falling
my heart
cut to ribbons under tons
of heartless steel
weighted down by

The loss of you.

The air
ripples in the darkness,
in my line of vision,
as I try to see the world
through

The loss of you.

Daily gratitudes:
Sleep when it comes
Getting accustomed to some hard truths
A successful truckload for the move
My great-nephew’s birthday tomorrow

Quote of the day: “Some people are just not meant to be in this world. It’s just too much for them.” — Phoebe Stone

Flatland (A Friday Original Poem)

Flatland

He said his grandmother
Could cook bacon
So that it would come out completely
Flat
Without using a press
and he didn’t know how she did it/

His Great Aunt Mary
Was an old-time switchboard operator
Who wore bright red lipstick
and smoked unfiltered cigarettes
Until she died in her 90s.

I always think they were Lucky Strikes,
but I always get it wrong.

His maiden aunts
Lived in a time capsule of an early century
Hoarding and seldom
leaving the house
full of the past.

Sometimes the present
Is just too much.

Daily gratitudes:
Beautiful days
Yesterday’s walk
A fine whiskey
Clean sheets
Strength

Quote of the Day: “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” — Mahatma Ghandi