interpreter

to honor Daphne Clifton, poet

daphne watches nature

captures chickadees and titmice

in their daily, eventful little lives

with gentle words of compassion

and understanding that even too busy

humans can comprehend

banister to wisdom

at the head of the flight of steep stairs
i climb up and on, my right foot dangling
fifteen feet over the narrow hallway below

i close my eyes, afraid, but determined

i’ve seen my uncles and my older sister do this

but i wouldn’t try when they could watch

my palms are slippery as i try to grip

the dark, polished wood

slowly i ease my near-prehensile toes

from around the uprights

and let my bum first begin to move

i lift my left foot from its final anchor

the slide begins in earnest, balled red-plaid dress

and white cotton panties against the lacquered railing

i clutch at but cannot grasp the smooth, wide rail

i swoosh faster and faster, gritting baby teeth

to keep from screaming

a gasp escapes my mouth as i descend

but grandma doesn’t hear me until

i’ve reached the round, decorative curl-end post

swished near sideways off it and clattered to the wooden floor

i’m not crying, exactly, but mama would have rushed to pick me up

and coo sweet assurances

but grandma, mother of three boys, stands arms akimbo

come over here, she says, and I’ll pick you up

I’d have come to you but I have a bone in my leg

i stagger up, blinking, to check that i’m okay

next time, don’t come down so fast, she says over her shoulder

as she returns to the kitchen

i feel so bad about that bone in her leg

i hold onto the banister as I look back up its height

so much to learn  

still vivid

laughing lunch with elder daughter

phoned younger to giggle over memory

she chuckles, musing, “strange how

incidents of decades ago come flooding

back as though they just happened”

wayward words

 funny how a word or two

can run caustic over my being

it takes a breath and a moment

to reflect on past joys

to put the feelings of hurt and anger

back into my pocket

uh - oh

 befuddled after trauma

to an extent I am finding

only these months later

as i try to balance the books

frugal, ingenious mama

wrangled gold, red, orange, even blue

from green, hard-working leaves

chemical plants that produce, as waste

what we vitally need to breathe

how frugal Mother Nature is

surplus from one of Her species

giving life to another

yet, as we inhale to gasp at her beauty

we ignore Her life-sustaining labor

long may She forgive us

person to person

sweet laughter, throaty chuckle, lingering smile

nothing tells more of human warmth

stranger in the room

stranger in the room

admired the more he speaks

for the idealism he’s incorporated into his life’s work

and warm reaction to teasing and laughter

it’s reassuring to respond, even wistfully, after years of widowhood

i suppose i am still alive after all

haiku

 haiku

greed personified:

california quail wallow

in the birdseed bowl

work carried on and accomplished

a lifetime of careful labor

added to parents’

to make of a farm

a palette of charm and beauty

abundant for the eye and appetite

            mjNordgren  10/26/2022  McMinnville

interview with mjNordgren

now live on the City of Forest Grove Website - https://www.forestgrove-or.gov/bc-pac/page/local-artist-spotlight

In the spring of 2022, Pacific University students interviewed local artists and mjNordgren (author) for their art advocates class. What a fun time that turned out to be.

one payment, two rewards

 aching to help my independent offspring

whose pride of self and generous spirit

i would not hurt for any gain

and now i can assist by spending

what i would have at any rate

but applying it to a cost she could not pay

delicious fear

our discovery of delicious fear

in spooky darkness

moderated by dancing campfire light

surrounded by friends and family

listening together to storyteller

whose many voices send

chills into the marrow of our bones

so long as we know we are safe

de-desiccating

cold rain, so long forgotten

for these drought dust months

green now as though each raindrop

painted blade after blade

leaf upon leaf

with the promise that not all seasons

are bone-desiccating summer

fall of yellow

a breeze

and its rain of yellow

leaves, warmth

of a golden summer

sun grown ripe

ready for the fall        

revelation

story-teller’s tone, inflection

expression and body language

as he sits, hovers, bends, twists

against the flickering firelight

recreating, intensifying, revealing

teaching us to re-think, re-feel

re-live the vastness and wonder

of our lives

october gratitude

 bright sunlight filtered

by autumn-tinted leaves

brilliant, exotic flashes

of unsung colors

quicken my pulse

awaken my need to give thanks

aruna

a gentle peace corps volunteer

in fiji meets vivacious, adventurous

beauty and falls into a love that lasts

decades of shared sorrows, accomplishments and joys

his service to the world has built

the core of his full world

reward enough and plenty

fool time

darker now, we turn on lights

seek entertainment while our bodies cry for rest

awaken to annoying, fabricated noises before refreshed renewal completed

live by the rule of the clock rather than the rhythm of earth

and now contemplate changing to daylight savings all year

with noon when the sun is not high overhead

reader comment about October mjNewsletter

"You touch beautifully so many aspects of your and others' experiences (family, friends, a queen), glimpses of personal journeys, sweet, sad and tender-hearted , elements of surprise, puzzlement, pondering. Love your opening statement about open minds and the art pieces that enhance your wods. So much food for thought to be read again and again." S.A., Oregon