Author Archives: janishaag

noun: one who wanders in the night I still awaken some nightshearing the click click clickingof his nails down the hall,his tags jingling his arrival, feel him making his way tothe big round bed on the floor,softened by his aging … Continue reading →

I’m delighted to report that I’ve been writing and posting daily poems for six months now (since Nov. 1, 2022), and it’s truly become a nourishing daily practice. The words and images show up fairly easily most days, and, when … Continue reading →

For two weeks the plantsoverwintering on the front porchhave waved at me each timeI come or go, their gentle signalthat it’s time to move back to the back, to the deck under the big sycamorefor far more fresh air and … Continue reading →

Walking the labyrinth,clocking its distance becausesomeone asked, on the way in I come upon a smalloblong black bug headingthe same way I am, and I pause, bend tolook closely, its littlelegs chugging it from shade into sun everso slowly, taking … Continue reading →

Make sure you’re not too prolific. You could be taking words and punctuation away from someone more needy.—Duchess Goldblatt on Twitter, April 21, 2023 Because, after all, there are onlyso many words to go around—and there, in only two lines, … Continue reading →

(or Why I love exercising with Shelley) Because the music, magically channeledfrom her phone to the small turquoise speaker, is so good, gets us moving, and herdelightfully peppy self makes moving fun (to paraphrase Fleetwood Mac), and shecan’t help but … Continue reading →

The stalks shoot up first, thoughyou have done nothing to deservethem—months ago you prunedthe spent stalks to the ground, yethere they are, restarting from last year’s leftovers, fuzzy green lengthsextending slender arms ending inpalm-sized leaves. And all alongthe new stalks, … Continue reading →

That’s me in the back at the xylophone,mallets in hand, next to the drummer onthe set, watching the director up front withan intensity I usually reserved to study the boy I had a big crush on whenhe boarded the bus … Continue reading →

She wanted to walk down the hillof backyard lawn to see the lilacin full bloom up close—primetime for her favorite plantat its fragrant peak. So, as I watered the potted plantson the patio, she carefully madeher way to the lawn, … Continue reading →

for Dickie You taught me to see lightfalling through a broad leaffrom the underside,its green veins illuminatedlike a manuscript,shining with lifeblood,and the lacy fingers of fernshanging shaggy in rainforestdamp, droplets poisedjust so at the tips,pointing to somethingelse to be looked … Continue reading →