From the first burp of a shoot bursting its tomb to the dozing off of a harvested plant life remains a mystery. There is significance in small things: the subterranean wisdom of earthworms the collegial hum of bees the fantasies of the cabbage grub the silent plodding of beetles and how ants and aphids conspire.… Continue reading Wisdom of the Scarecrow
"Communion Service, next Sunday morning at 10:00," church bulletin said. I imagined sitting there, wafer and tiny goblet of juice in hand trying hard not to think of what I'll make for lunch. It wasn't even a prayer, just a thought I wish it had more meaning for me again. Early Communion Sunday morning the… Continue reading Communion
I am in the choice of pattern and in my fantasy of how the suit sketched in tweed will be incarnated in velvet I am in tissue pieces laid precisely, pinned snugly facing the right way on the wrong side. I am in the concentration of my tongue and in the rhythm of my heart… Continue reading In stitches
“You hem me in – behind and before; You have laid your hand upon me.” Psalm 139:5 (NIV) Shut away inside this silken crypt I long for undulation on the pavements wriggling up trunks and along branches munching leaf to leaf. Those carefree sunny days have given way to terror as motionless, deaf and blind… Continue reading Transformation
I dig through just-arrived groceries for Cracker Jack and Pink Elephant Popcorn hold cinnamon hearts tight with my tongue till my mouth is on fire pick sweating Smarties and licorice shoelaces off the icing of my cake sift through green cellophane straw to find the last chocolate egg gobble a bag of jujubes at the… Continue reading Candy Year
this is a poem about the last page a poem about feeling panicked a poem about lists this is a poem about shopping and tired feet about choosing the right card then signing your name 47 times a poem about wrapping paper, tape and ribbon this is a poem about putting up lights and garland… Continue reading this is a poem 2
When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened. Luke 3:21 For thirty years and nine months heaven’s Son-silent corridors, its echoing rooms with their litter of creation and Word-clutter have been my constant reminder of His absence. Though always vigilant I have restrained myself… Continue reading Baptism
Mrs. Beasley packed her purse fearing things would just get worse: gloves and flippers, skates and socks lotion for the chicken pox rain umbrella, steaks and fries drops and goggles for her eyes cell phone, blanket, tire jack a map so she could make it back pound of breath mints, whistle, mace sun-screen to protect… Continue reading Mrs. Beasley Packed Her Purse
Though the afternoon’s snow-cold breaths and gray vapors threaten to lower the curtain flowers keep bursting on stage. Magnolia’s tight rose buds fan out to pink confections Forsythia leaps graceful arcs of yellow Pieris dangles blushing clusters like exotic fruit. From shy mauve Lungwort uncoiling under somber juniper to Rhododendrons - fuchsia, orange and red… Continue reading April Show
3:00 a.m. – instantly awake. Sliver of welcome-home light still shines under my door a silent revelation: he is not yet home. All sleep securely bound and trussed by the everlasting umbilical cord, I go downstairs with my sedatives – pillow, journal, pen – assume my post on the couch and wait. Every cell tingles… Continue reading Everlasting Umbilical Cord
Violet Nesdoly 