Author Archives: janishaag

When we can no longer walk together—a long time from now, please— circumnavigating your park-likehomeplace abundant with trees, so many of them now loosening leaves,littering the crewcut lawns with every manner of foliage from heftyblushing trefoils to delicate gold fans. … Continue reading →

(Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023, Veterans’ Day) You said it never left you: 5 things you could see—• The letter summoning you• The doctor’s large finger in the cold exam room• The big yellow bus that was not taking you to … Continue reading →

That if no one comes to write,I’ve opened the dance floor,and I can dance just fine by myself. I will sit in the loft, put onthe kettle for tea and seewhat shows up, word-wise. The point is to lace upthe … Continue reading →

(for Deborah Meltvedt) On our morning walk along the riverpath, Deb and I stop several timesto watch the progress of a… Is that a sea lion? In the American River?! …flopping acrobatically, swimmingfast, popping up, then diving intoconcentric circles of … Continue reading →

In the opposite season I make my way up the hillthat careens down to the lake, lessened by summer,that body that sends water down long river armsto my city, many miles away. Months ago I sat here when grass flourished … Continue reading →

Trees in the fall remind me: It’s OK to lose things. It’s OK.—Steve Garnaas-Holmes •••(for Catherine O’Brien)••• Because there’s a difference between losingsomething & shedding—one more intentional than the other—I trust Elizabeth Bishop:“The art of losing isn’t hard to master.” … Continue reading →

(for Dickie) Every time I do this inthe backyard, when I getto the back of your head, the strands gleaming like crystalfilaments in afternoon lightleaking through browning sycamore leaves, I admirethe circumference of yourscalp—a perfect half circle, actually—as if someone … Continue reading →

(for Lisa) The Sunday we fall back,after lunch and a play,Lisa and I walk my neighborhood with an eyeto the cloudy sky seemingto darken faster than usual. Time shifts always feeljarring for the first fewbars—as we old band people know … Continue reading →

Be a person here. Stand by the river, invokethe owls. Invoke winter, then spring.Let any season that wants to come here make its owncall. After that sound goes away, wait. —William Stafford, from “Being a Person” ••• (for Deborah) I, … Continue reading →

I can scarcely wait till tomorrowwhen a new life begins for me,as it does each day,as it does each day. —Stanley Kunitz, from “The Round” ••• I’m with you, Stanley,eager for the next day to unfold like one of those … Continue reading →