The wasp leaves an unexpected sting It strikes for no visible reason and then flies away There is no justice as you go through the stages of suffering and the slow arrival of relief You learn to avoid it and come to expect it The swelling disappears But the memory holds on You don’t think […]
Artemis is an uncrewed spacecraft that was planned to launch today for a moon-orbiting mission. It’s also the name of the premier poetry and art journal, founded and headed up by Floyd Countian Jeri Rogers Not only is Artemis Journal about to launch its 2022 issue at Roanoke’s Taubman Museum on September 2, 5-9 pm, […]
I hate when a notebook ends It’s like a detour in the road when I don’t know the alternate route If a notebook was a casket I would recite the best parts and read a funeral eulogy before I closed the cover I would bury it in my yard like a dog buries a bone […]
-Golden Years: the years of retirement, normally after age 65, or a song by David Bowie. Getting older is bittersweet. It’s an acquired taste. It’s also a time of harvest when the fruit is ripe for picking, and the work done over time to get to this stage of age pays off. Katherine Chantal and […]
When the soul asserts its right of way it leads the dance Grief and honoring are the blood sisters that braid the steps They slow-dance through loss hold the symmetry of paradox and for the sake of artful fate are moved towards transcendence When the soul takes the lead there’s a deep delving There’s a […]
I dreamt I cut off my ear the way I casually cut fabric or slice a potato which made me ask what other ways do I self-harm? What other impulsive act can’t be taken back? What don’t I want to hear? I saved the evidence but forgot what it was intended for so I tucked […]
It’s been fun to read poetry in different places and to different audiences. This time, thanks to Elle Roe and others, the hosts were a local book club. We met on the back porch of The Floyd Country Store. It was not a back-and-forth Soulful Aging duo between me and Katherine, as we have been […]
I cling to morning sleep like I cling to blankets when it’s cold I keep my eyes closed as if there was a war I didn’t want to see As if our country wasn’t selling arms and young white men weren’t killing children at their school desks I prolong my sleep for the lure of […]
Now I have to learn to nap and wake up three times a night Now I have to talk to bag boys at the grocery store who don’t know who wrote Let It Be I talk to the flowers in my garden I call them ‘my beautiful girls’ I hang out with butterflies and bluebirds […]
I mistook the fireflies for your headlights coming down the gravel driveway A distant car on the Parkway could be yours I remember waiting for my dad to come home from work in the rain and worrying that he wouldn’t during Hurricane Carol in 1953 Now the light fades out like the end of a […]
We’re tourists to our own aging / We’ve never been here before / We take field notes and pictures / and watch the other travelers / We cross our fingers / and look for simple pleasures / We count our blessings / give away our belongings / enjoy the view from the scenic route… C. […]
The wolf doesn’t need sheep’s clothing if the door is left open if the bad apples are poison and the fences are broken if the good people are sleeping and the rest are herded the pack is emboldened and the vulnerable forsaken Cry wolf every time Don’t follow the dishonorable Don’t fall from grace or […]
