photo by author

My friend Len was concerned about me because I hadn’t written on my blog since February. What? I didn’t? Nope, I had to look for myself. Actually, there is nothing to be concerned about.  I stopped writing on another website about that time as did a lot of other writers whose work I had appreciated there. The algorithms they were now using meant that a lot of us were no longer getting viewed or commented on. Something had changed and many switched to another site altogether. I decided I have enough writing on my plate just for Kendal- sometimes people are asking me if I would write something for their occasion and with my own projects, I am kept as busy as I need to be. Looking back, I see I just didn’t feel ready to get back online for a while.

That said, here I am, catching up from March to the end of May with a few poems.

The Plot at the End of March

Three weeks ago, the pond was covered in melting ice.

Today, bright green duckweed mats are melding.

Mated Canadian geese part them effortlessly

as they swim to the far end of the pond.

Their usual nesting spot is hidden beyond

a small forest of last year’s dried canes.

Some lie broken on the water creating a raft

for a sunbathing palm-sized turtle.

Around the perimeter of the pond

tiny frogs trill croaks of love and territory.

Tree frogs continuously chuckle soprano gulp

up in the balcony above my head.

I see hoof prints in the mud along the road.

A deer was here.

Pussy willows are purring,

early daffodils are almost blooming

and away from the frogs, more and more

distinct birdsong can be heard.

The field is full of winter-dead wildflowers.

Seeds are long gone but tasty insects are stirring.

I can almost hear new stems stretching beneath the ground.

Even in my room, I saw the first tiny ant

emerging from the baseboard where the plumbing chase

is a yearly highway for ants in my building,

reminding me that spring stirs everything

outside and inside of me and my home on this plot of earth.

None of us can ignore what is happening in our country and the world. I have written many poems to try and integrate the dismay we are all feeling. When I first saw how much money had initially fled my investments this poem arose.

Unlike Flocks of Starlings 4/8/25

Unlike a flock of black starlings flowing as one

graceful murmuration in the sky,

words and numbers etched in black ink

are flying away in frenzied chaos.

Disruptive change is healthy

for organisms creating new growth.

Organic destruction of dead matter is embedded

with intelligent patterns of renewal. 

The ripple effects of panicked incoherence

destroyed what once was.

We long to know that our flock

will land in safety again.

This universe is based on expansion and contraction,

always reverting to balance,

when healthy order inevitably returns.

May our flock lift wings together with that surety.

Which brings us to April. I wrote this back in 2007 when a Shad (other names are Serviceberry and Juneberry) tree was blooming right outside my bedroom window when I spent many hours in bed from my MS exhaustion. There is an Ohio version of this tree right outside my window ripening into berries as I write.

The Shad Tree, ‘07

Every spring the Queen of Lace

holds court outside my window.

The royal decree is trilled aloud

by avian courtiers perched in her graceful branches.

“Build nests in field and forest and

by June shall our white blossoms become red berries,

a feast for you and your kin.”

Unlatching my window

I receive the royal summons

on the first warm sunny day.

She nods to me in the breeze.

I curtsy deeply

inhaling all that grows, crawls, flies,

and swims upon her earth.

This year of recovery

I match her abundance.

With a trilling cry of my own

she and I are become

this season of rebirth.

I will build a nest in her arms and learn to sing.

In fact, I am no longer able to sing my own songs that I have written since coming to Kendal. I have lost the ability to keep in pitch. I have made friends with a very talented musician, writer, pianist, singer, engineer in Oberlin- who kindly has transcribed 10 of my songs that I want to use as an album to give to Kendal marketing to use as they wish. I am distributing this collection of songs to musicians and singers, both residents and staff, who will record them with another resident who is also a sound engineer and singer himself. This project has also kept me very busy and by the end of the fall, I hope it will all be done and available to stream online somehow from Kendal’s website. The logistics I leave up to those who know what they are doing. I am very happy to know these songs won’t languish in my head but can be appreciated by others.

Now onwards to June, which is just around the corner…