not like it used to be

snow up to ten inches

in Florida

below freezing but no rain

or snow in western Oregon

bright sunlight sparkling

off Cascade peaks

was weather ever “normal”

or is every season “not

like it used to be when

I was a kid”?

mixed blessing

for ubiquitous service to humanity

electricity’s motors, fans, engines

rightly claim kudos for our comfort

but how much of Nature’s

whispered music is muffled and lost?

for our presumed safety from attack

night lights, streetlights, guard lights

leaks upward toward the night sky

blanching our view of the beauty of stars

our awareness of galaxies, vast distance

and time

purple blanket

disconsolate, dark purple

blanket of cloud even-bottomed

as though sliced by chainsaw

ominous work of man

now grappled in its southeast vulnerability

by sunrise rays of ginger

and burnishing gold

as only mother nature can fling

off night clothes to welcome

the new day

falling

falling in love

falling for a scheme

falling out with a friend

falling on the floor

only the first seems to carry

much promise

of fun outcome

wishing you love

so sorry, so late

red light blinking behind me

i hurried to turn into the garage

to get out of the ambulance’s way

and missed that it stopped

at the doorway of our building

and only learned at supper

that it had come for me friend

who had fallen

how great

like so many of Nature’s gifts

dawn was a quiet and brilliantly

brief display of violet to tangerine

to glorious yellow-white too intense

to allow our eyes to gaze upon

but we feel welling within us

song and words that must break

forth : “How great Thou art!”

among friends

rapid-fire comebacks

teasing to show affection

wit, word-play and love

highlighting Hood

haiku

yellow-orange sunrise

quickly pale gray-gold mat sky

silhouettes Mt. Hood

Depot Bay at high tide

mad, wind-whipped waves cleaved

to foam by jagged lava rock

rammed through clefts, now blowholes

to fountain as towering vertical spray

or thrashed, unable to escape

from between layers of rock,

before the next wave churns the milky foam

into congealed white curds

Taft bay

haiku

photons catch motion

flit brilliance over unseen

ripples in the bay

fog dispersal

haiku

whispers strewn by fog

over mist-swallowed friendships

diffuse understanding

decisions by the elderly

how to know when heart

and head are tangled within

grief guilt and longing

dream twelve years later

dream of waiting for my husband

to drive home in his huge log truck

so real, the worry, the longing

to hold him safe

but when he came a great niece

and her husband came so he needed

to tend to them and our moment

put aside, but he saw my smile

senior living

come to die here

in comfort and elegance

as much as possible given

reality

struck as i walked north

toward large window

at the end of the corridor

with reflected parallel

rows of light leading upward

toward the blue purple

hills

as though toward

heaven

break in the indigo-purple

break in the indigo-purple

layers of hinting-dawn clouds

steely gray horizon blushing

with the promise of another day

with appreciation

snow-capped peaks on my skyline

after many days of layered gray

clouds obscuring – blessed sunshine

much appreciated

communication

so many days waking up in a cloud

fog of gray with no horizon

no neighborhood, nothing but

myself, grateful for ways to reach

out by text or by phone

to those i love

such contact has not been common

in human history so i am glad

i am living now

you live what you believe

may you live with love and truth

late december

haiku

again socked in gray

clouds hiding the snow-capped peaks

but bright and joyous

cope with boxes

mired in my own lack of organization

box after box of books, but no way

yet to get more bookcases here

i simply could not picture how

to arrange the furniture or how much

furniture the apartment would take

slow and easy, slow and easy

i don’t need to be settled in just yet

Christmas celebration with family

is what matters now and they can cope

with boxes as long as we are together