Spring

 

Birds chirp in the trees overhead,
Congregating on one, then the next.
Trading stories of hunger and fear,
Envy and rage, love and joy.
I lay in the waving grass below
And lose myself in their chattering music.

White magnolias and cherry trees,
Like bright clouds on the ground,
Lift my eyes up through their branches
Into the gray-blue skies above.
Petals float past me weightless,
Magically freed by the slightest breeze.

How little I give you!

A pot on a plate on our table

To sit in with your soil.

A minute of time every week

To pour you water to drink,

And a few minutes more

To admire and think.

Blinds left up to let indirect light

Stream through the window from dawn until night.

And suddenly, a bud! A bloom!

However little you consume,

By some alchemy you transmute

Golden sun
Into golden petals

To crown your leafy head.

What rewards you offer

For what little you are fed!

Aged 99

Age is just a number, they said.

99 years of life, just a number.

99 years till a timely death,

For some definition of timely.

I took a walk some years ago

Through hills and woods and snow

And found a cabin sitting still

On a path long untraveled

1 door, 4 doorways,

1 table, 3 plates,

1 bedroom, 2 beds,

1 fireplace, just numbers.

A 50-50 chance I make it

To another year, another number.

A 4-month median survival.

But I’m not a number, they said.

 I took a walk some years ago

Through the trees into a meadow,

And I found a piece of glass

Shining in the grass, in the sun.

6 sides, an irregular hexagon,

Its past forgotten, its future unknown

To me, but even to itself.

Perhaps especially to itself.

6 more months to another number,

Those months to be forever unknown.

Because time is up, and my clockwork heart

Rang out its final tone.

A day's clinics in limericks

 Specificity 

I have seen this test everywhere, 

in so many stroke patients' care.

But in a new one for me, 

she named "cactus," "glove," "key," 

and then "French provincial chair." 

Seasonal Affective Disorder 

No matter how gloomy you're feeling, 

you'll find antidepressants quite healing. 

Plus with good sleep at night, 

and the day's Happy Light, 

you will soon feel as high as the ceiling! 

Cold Front 

Tonight it is 60 degrees, 

but I'm starting to feel some unease. 

As my fingers turn blue,
We'll fall past 32... 

I had better take care or I'll freeze!

The Simple Things

It started with a gift. My roommate offered me some leftover romaine lettuce he was unlikely to use. I said "sure, thank you!" and thought to myself: I guess it's salad time! Coincidentally, we had just come back from a grocery trip, and I'd picked up some roma tomatoes and a loaf of french bread (just as pantry staples no specific use in mind).

So chop-chop-chop in 10 cuts went the lettuce, which was still nice and crunchy near the base. And chop-chop-chop went a tomato in 10 more cuts. I ripped off one end of the french bread, tore it in half, and stuck it in my toaster to get some of those delightful burnt crunchy bits (BCBs). A little drizzle of Caesar dressing on the salad (just tomatoes and lettuce, remember), and on second thought, I decided to add a few small pieces of butter on top of the hot bread. I couldn't be bothered to spread it evenly, and they melted nicely anyway.

I kid you not, this was the most satisfying dinner I've had all week. Yet it was also the easiest, thrown together in a couple minutes with barely any thought at all. But the tomatoes were juicy, the lettuce crisp, the bread crunchy and warm and soft all at once.

Sometimes, it really is the simple things.

Shatter and Break

Lost and Found

Three steps in the ocean I found you asleep under sand under sea under sky. 

I carefully lifted you, washed you in waves that had polished you smooth long ago. 

Perhaps you erupted from fiery peaks, or tumbled from mountains of snow?

If only I knew more I'd not have to ask, and I don't think that you will reply.

I wondered what undersea creatures you'd seen, if you'd had eyes to see things at all.

I might have known all of these answers but now, they have flown and won't answer my call.