Category Archives: Uncategorized

And August leaves of abundancemust abandon the trees of Novemberdescending to stark silhouettes,graphic and grey and attentive. —from “Orchard 1,” Kathryn Hohlwein ••• And now they are on their wayto that state of bare attention— we see them tall and … Continue reading →

My life,you were a doorI was given to walk through —Jane Hirshfield, from “The Asking: New and Selected Poems” ••• What was that openingthat I walked through before I could walkbefore I was fully formed before I felt like me?An … Continue reading →

On a day of coincidences,my order for the to-gopoke bowl came to$19.58, and it took till I’d gotten into my car,backed out of the spaceand hung a U-ie onFair Oaks Boulevard before I realized, Hey,that’s my year, whenI made my … Continue reading →

Maybe you need to write a poem about grace.—Robert Hass ••• All I know about grace is that we don’tdeserve it, this unmerited favor thathumans can’t earn, that it’s kindness freely given, nudgingus into a state of being we can’t … Continue reading →

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 →