Harold

warm gratitude for the quirks of life

and a gentle humor that manifested

as chuckles of irrepressible joy

we will miss this life-affirming gentleman

who would have guessed

joy of caring for an animal pet

i would not have thought

could transfer to tending to plants

but i love needing to give the deck

flowers every morning enough water

to survive and thrive through our

ninety-degree days

nope, Elon

despite Elon Musk’s assertion,

empathy is not a disease

that is debilitating our nation

caring for one another is essential

to life unless one is arrogant enough

to believe anyone is greater

than lightning, flood, earthquake,

fire, virus, stroke, myocardial infarction

and working for each other’s wellbeing

merits satisfaction that amassing

any amount of goods does not comprehend

joy of the evening

 gifts and laughter with loved daughters

over scrumptious supper of crab louis

testing out a grabber with magnetic

properties and using its bite-and-open

feature to simulate applause

to greater laughter as we work

a crossword puzzle together

in bonded caring and mutual support

i am the luckiest person

i’ve ever known

gotcha

migraines sneak in with only a hint

of prodrome so when i finally realize

the kind of headache that is taking hold

i am already deep in its throes

whether or not i still have miles

to drive to make it home

lesson from afar

refreshing early morning air

with enough chill to belie

the sun’s intention to teach

us, plant and animal, to acknowledge

nuclear reaction as power

even from a distance

near chill, but not for long

still early enough

to have blessed chill

in the air but already

the imperious sun

demands its due attention

quiet confidence

a quietness steals over me

of confidence now that i am upright

my feet and knees stay under me

carrying me where i wish to go

but this past year has not always

been so

i’ve fallen without warning

been carried on a stretcher

to an ambulance more times

than i’ve ridden in one as caregiver

so, now when my head seems

to want to twirl or aching hurt

gathers between my eyes,

i am concerned another fall

could take me and i will once again

be unsure of me

warmth

warm sunlit morning

laughter with my kids by phone

already a beautiful day

watercolorist’s challenge clouds

 in watercolors, gray comes to life

by combining opposites

on the color wheel, such as,

green with red

orange with blue

purple with yellow

so all of the color wheel is in each gray

but the various proportions yield

varied moods and emotional responses

this morning’s tumbled layers of clouds

needed all three combinations

to reveal the temper

of each watery atmosphere

Venus, from my new perspective

A planet glows in the dawn sky

but seeming higher from the horizon

than Venus appeared

from my house on the hill

Is it Venus i am seeing

from a different perspective?

So much belief depends on where i

am standing to view

and a different foundation gives

birth to alternate—not facts—but

points of view

another hot day

haiku 

dawn pale this morning

near uniform gray-blue sky

warn again of heat

our best shot

fireworks up, up, surrounding us

with booming sound and whistles

as well as vibrant colors

and brilliant, falling light

caricaturing thunderstorms

in our puny but enjoyable

 efforts – we give it

our best shots

roads closed

our town closes its complicated

one-way streets

three times a week for street fairs

and today from eight to two

for celebratory parade

all of which are fun

but it does make me think about

going back to my rural roads

where i sometimes needed

to drive slow behind a tractor

until i could pass him on a clear

two-lane roadway    

grace is not from me

how easily my kids accept

whoever wishes to join us at table

as though all little old ladies and men

were still respected human beings

although the rest of the world

seems not to believe that

how did they grow to be such

gracious persons?

slivered cloudbank

haiku

 pale tangerine sky

slivers blue cloudbank

leaving rose-pink wound

delicate beyond hand made

carefully gouging to enlarge the hole

in the underside of the starfish corpse

one finds that what had made

the rattling noise as the starfish

was shaken are parts of the eating mechanism

of the living organism

teeth? jaw bits? but exquisite

in themselves: angels? doves?

so intricate, delicate, with tiny feathers

or gills that could not be made by

hands—only by Nature

family Alaskan joy

 haiku

laughter with family

a week of Alaskan scenes

mountains, glaciers, joy

Alaska week

home from a week’s cruise

with ten of the family

so seldom together

Alaska may never

heard such laughter

and joyful catching-up

odd night light

 odd, intense small light in the sky

in the middle of the night

at first i thought it was landing lights

on a fair-sized plane approaching

the airfield just northeast of my home

but it did not blink or move among

dense clouds and was too intense

i felt curiously chilled for a moment

and then clouds gave way a bit so

the intensity of pale yellow increased

and i recognized our moon

although little of it showed

how weird it felt had to see such color

with suspicions of something strange

in my sky