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October 1, 2017October 1, 2017

A Life Betrayed

She lives the only life
she has ever known
inside someone else’s home

she wonders how she came to this
miles of fields and distance
a breeze touching her
now frail being

did someone leave her here
without her knowing and
will she wake one day
to find she’s dreaming

for she loved him so in her way
but was he a mirage or
just a ruse she wrote of
in her own knowing

before her body did betray
and stole her life
and youth

This is in response to Jamie Dede’s Wednesday Prompt. Read more at

“Archaic Torso of Apollo” by Rainer Marie Rilke … and your Wednesday Writing Prompt

Christina's World

This painting rendered by artist Andrew Wyeth will never be able to access the mind of the young woman who gave rise to its’ inspiration. Christina Olson is the subject of this mysterious and haunting painting called ‘Christina’a World’.

July 14, 2017

Surviving The Elements

Today will be a better day and the day after that and the day after tomorrow. She had taken her time building this home for her offspring and it would not fail. The wind had taken the previous home and shaken it so that nothing was left…or nearly nothing. Her little ones had not survived.

But her she is inspecting each piece of wood that is put into place and it is more secure. For even though there might be wind it will not be put asunder. I am young, she thinks, and her offspring will survive. In fact, she hears them now, as she is headed for home. They seem to always know when she is coming. They are so noisy and make such a raucous! But she is happy to hear it. When she gets there she counts heads and yes, there are still three and they are still just as hungry as ever. Today is a success!

Twigs woven nest
fluffy hatchlings
wide mouths open

I have baby robins outside my apartment that can be seen in a hedge on the other side of my deck. The first nest mother robin made was in a Mountain Ash tree and when the wind blew she lost all her eggs. That was the front side of the apartment and the tree is small and not the best place for a nest. Hopefully, this time, she will have better luck. I can see at least three heads peek up waiting to be fed and have seen mother robin be there without fail. We will see.

I created a piece of art using watercolor, acrylics and watercolor pencil for the baby robins.

Baby Robins (2)

July 10, 2017July 10, 2017

Leafy Boughs of Finery

When the air turns crisp and
harbors promises of cold nights
requiring the layering of clothes
to provide warmth the chill of
autumn dresses for the season
with leafy boughs that become
a finery of golds, yellows, reds
lining the street a fall runway
they bend ever so slightly to see
through the glass eyes of homes
where pumpkin pies are baking
and hot cider is brewing

This is response to Jamie Dede’s Wednesday Prompt. You can view more poets responses at https://jamiededes.com/2017/07/05/autumn-promises. The photo
below was taken from Morgue File and digitized by myself.

Autumn Color

February 23, 2013

Beating Quietly

Altered Google Image

the end of a week and
i don’t even mind
the rail when
riding means
a tide of
giggling teenagers

so…who cares
not i….i think as
my one brain cell
slides dismally
around in the
vacant space…
(did i say that)
between my ears

wind blows and rain
hits & then runs
down the glass of
the rail windows
but i don’t
notice

as businesses stream
by because i
just want to get
home and feel nothing
but relief but
when it comes

i think of you &
our phone calls
the phone
silent now these
past five years

when idle chit-chat
meant a kind of
reprieve, relax…ing
into now so i could
hold ON to you

only a telephone cord
away & now…even a
telephone cannot
bring you close with
your voice so
like mine as if

i practiced daily to
play it back from
a treasured tape
but instead of
waiting for the
phone to ring

i close my eyes
hold my hand
atop my chest &
feel you there
beating quietly
inside me and
i am home

January 25, 2013

Smart Fellow

Google Image

he knows where he lives
but that doesn’t stop
this smart fellow from
visiting everyone
i tell him to go home
and off he goes

This is for the Small Stone Challenge January 2013. You can find them at http://www.writingourwayhome.com . This is Small Stone #23.

June 3, 2012June 3, 2012

“But Why”

innocence treading in silence
listening to the whirring
machines a sterile room

holding a bed on wheels with
white linens blankets
covering him in sleeping

standing close to her looking
’round watching before his
hand extends beckoning him

closer to touch his to assure
him all is well as he touches
then holds the aging hand

she tells him time to leave
he wants to go home with him
but she says ‘no’ not this time

“But Why?” his brown eyes implore
she can only say he has to stay
here for awhile ’til he’s better

until they say he can go home
but he can only look at her to
implore “But Why?” looking for

answers he won’t understand as
his innocence fills the silence
he tells his grandfather good-bye

I am still very good friends with the man I was with for 20yrs and married to for 30yrs. He underwent major surgery this last week to repair a triple aortic abdominal aneurysm and although he has other health issues he did much better than expected. I decided to write something taken from my grandson’s experience. Kade is 4yrs old and is trying to wrap his young mind around why his grandfather is not at home where, in Kade’s eyes, he should be. We are all pleased that his grandfather is recovering nicely. I was privy to all of this but the last part when his mother, my daughter, told Kade it was time to go.