(for Jill Batiansila and the Together We Heal community)

Too hot this August afternoon
as I drive to Elk Grove, hoping
the chocolate in bags in
the back seat isn’t puddling
into brown pools—

because we write better fed,
I always say, and chocolate helps,
though I also bring gummies
and some taffy. And Jill shows up
with homegrown grapes and plums—

because it’s August here in
California’s great central valley,
the state’s breadbasket, and no
matter what else is going on in
our lives, no matter how much
we might swim in pools of sorrow,

if we can sit together and write
our art out, put it on the page,
which can take anything we
throw at it—grief and anger,
even joy—we can tame the heat
a bit by showing up in this cool
space, perhaps popping a
chocolate-covered almond
or two in our mouths, and,

having no idea what to put
on the page, allow our pens
and fingers to move, then sit
back, amazed at the bounty
that appears around this table—
after we moved through this
too-hot day to bring ourselves
here, certain that we had
nothing to say.

•••

You can find more information here about Together We Heal, which supports people in the Sacramento region struggling with loss in all its forms, and its many free programs, including a writing group that I host and flowers for people in grief.