Month: August 2022

A nice change

~ Pleasant Street ~ 11 Comments

(2015)

She had always lived there
Her father’s house and garden
Her mother’s scent of carnations
And chicken and dumplings in a pot

Once she said to her mother
I have to go soon
A man has offered me a ranch
and a dozen cows on a hilltop

But you are a vegetarian
Yes but he makes me smile
And the cows bring me peace.
I will set up my easel in the meadow

She painted fantastic visions
of oceans she would never see
and skies higher than the atmosphere
full of stars and comets

One day her mother showed up
Suitcase in hand
announcing that peace
would be a nice change of pace

That evening when she came in
Wet painting leaning against the apple tree
They ate, remarking
Those were the best dumplings ever.

My eyes say

~ Pleasant Street ~ 12 Comments

(2015)

I used to wear long skirts and loose shirts. I used to make cookies once a week that sat in a glass cookie jar for as long as they would last, until the cookie jar broke. There was a time when I made homemade baby food and used cloth diapers when all around me used disposable diapers and did not understand me. This was a time when all my dreams came true. Even as a child I wanted to be a mother more than anything. For years I was content to mother my poems. But when that day came, I knew I was born for this.

I bore two children. I cut my motherhood teeth with my daughter and made many mistakes. We still talk about that now, working towards good again. Then I had two miscarriages, and it broke my heart. God said, ‘okay, you can have another child now,’ and my son was born seven years later.

Lately I spend much of my time teaching driving– and how to cook without burning down the kitchen or cutting off fingertips. I sit for hours listening to hopes, dreams, and hurts from girlfriends and buddies. I read through piles of college literature. I still wear long skirts and loose shirts.

my son is home
smelling like the wind
my eyes say, my
nest will be empty soon

*~*~*

2022 update:

My son brought his wife to visit for a week, and it was special, full of new memories.

armed

~ Pleasant Street ~ 8 Comments

disappointment
hovers over
a splendid day
the wind in my hair
and the sun
threatened by bandits
keeping my hope
in a choke hold

beat them down
fight to take it back
spend time
lolling in the grass
don’t give up
your daydreams
to the imminent storm
fuel for the tank

each refusal to sit down
takes from the clouds
each word added to the narrative
we become stronger
no way will I be
reduced to a puddle
not today
not while I wear
this armour of syntax

and my helmet of discourse
content on my sweet
mountain of verses
delighted when others
visit, leaving their words
taking some of mine
in their pockets
as they go on their way

Monday random: Restaurants and bad coffee

~ Pleasant Street ~ 13 Comments

  • This is a complaining type of post, but I will keep it short.
  • I don’t understand why there are so many bad coffee shops.
  • They have atmosphere, they have wi-fi, good music, and they have pastry….
  • but the coffee is horrible!
  • I don’t have to have the best local roasters, and
  • I am not looking for Kopi Luwak, at any price.
  • But lately I have been out with family, and I am paying 2-3 dollars for really bad coffee.
  • I have a can of ground coffee past its date I paid six bucks for on Amazon that still comes out better than what I have been served lately.
  • I don’t understand this.
Continue reading “Monday random: Restaurants and bad coffee” →