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For the poets

How grateful I amfor all who have led methrough the fields of their hearts,beneath the branches of their losses,into the alleys of their wonder. —Rosemerry Wahtola Trommerfrom “We Are Told to Make Our Own Way” ••• I cannot count the … Continue reading

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Scud

(Word of the Day, Oct. 2, 2024) for Diego It’s what clouds do, pushed across skyby wind, driven, often furiously,by the hands of gods we can’t see. Of course, we can’t—they’re gods. The same ones who, I hope, receivedhim gently … Continue reading

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‘Maters

(for Gail and Amy, with our thanks) While you two cavort around Greece(isn’t that what one would do there—cavort?), we, your exercise buddies, continue our Tuesday morningsessions in your backyard. It isthe end of the growing season, but produce still … Continue reading

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Why I like hot days in October

Now’s when people really start to lookweary with heat—and no, it’s not adesert heat or the moist kind that leavesyou sweaty all day and night. It’s just garden variety Northern Californiahot stuff, and though so much of the countryhas fallen … Continue reading

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Snuggle

(for Jill Batiansila) Sometimes you make a new friendwho attaches themselves to you like feline Velcro, who settles infor a good nap with its purr on high throttle so that you cannotbear to peel the little one off your chest, … Continue reading

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In the dark

(for Peggy Price-Hartz in Aiken, South Carolina) I don’t know why you had to leave sunny Spain,but I imagine that now, sitting in the darkafter a hurricane has whooshed throughyour part of the world, you must belonging for the azure … Continue reading

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Benji

I am here to nudge a dozen women who’ve setanchor around a small moorage of tables into writing about grief. And they do. And, if theywish, they read. Tears spill; tissue is passed. But under the table, sitting closer to … Continue reading

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She was reading a book

And she placed its open facedown on the mustard cushionbefore she rose to a magnificentheight that I enviedas I watched her walk away. I flirted with the Who is she?story taking shape in my head,but the more insistent questionwas What … Continue reading

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Morning walking

When I am alone on the trail above the sea,I think none of these things.But once I’m home, treading sidewalksover city streets this is what runsthrough the ticker tape of my brain: My right ankle feels sore… Is that plantar … Continue reading

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Apricate

(verb: to bask in the sun) Cats mastered this eons ago,having passed on the lizard-likequality to all felines ever after, which is why, on the hottestof days, like these at the frontend of fall, you may find a clowder of … Continue reading

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