that's mrs. mediocrity to you

the sun always rises. you can pretend not to see it,
but even behind the blackest clouds, it is there.

if you aspire to excel at one thing, make it forgiveness.

all the things you’re going to do someday don’t exist.

every day, every dawn, is a gift. open it slowly,
savor the anticipation, play with the wrappings.

there is no better dance partner than the moon.

forward is the only direction.

build a house of hope and love, and you will
never need to fill it with things.

perfection is a burden best discarded.

be grateful, ever-so-grateful, for every breath you take.

your 737th kiss will be just as memorable as
your first, as long as you are paying attention.

an embrace is the best way to hold on.

doing nothing at all is the best form of busy.

sadness weighs the opposite of happiness,
and we need both to keep us grounded.

you can paint a picture with far less than 1000 words.

mother nature is the original caretaker of wonder.

never take anything for granted. however,
you will take everything for granted.

the caged bird sings because it sees that life goes on.

your heart is always your best feature.

there will never be enough time for anything,
but you can make time for what’s important.

laughter is the music of your soul.

tea is the elixir of life.

if what you really want to do is fly,
well, now, just look at all that sky.

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.p.s. the link party will be open until friday, feel free to join in at anytime!

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you hold all life’s gifts in your heart

all folded up and tucked
into the tiniest of pockets
held in place with
a gilded button flap

and you might even
forget all about them
for years at a time

but then one day

a moment will come and
you will sit down
quietly
in some corner
somewhere
and

unbutton

unfold

unforget

everything you’ve ever known

hold it gently
in your palm

slowly
breathe life
back into
that tiny body

offer
strength
and air and
vision
and hope

until eventually
both of you
begin to smile

in recognition

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Linking up today with the fabulous dVerse poets for Open Link Night, join us!

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i like a nice cotton blanket

warm from the dryer and smoothed
out just so, laid to rest
just beneath that quilt he
bought for christmas one year

flying geese in all my favorite colors

and i bring it out each winter
tuck in corners, tsk tsk about the tiny
rip right there on the edge

a sign, i think
of wear and tear

or love

whichever you prefer

.

tonight i will take a long hot bath
so that later i might slide
clean toes between cool sheets

and this heavy cover of birds and blue
will weigh me down just enough
to keep me centered through those months
of white and wind that always threaten
to carry me off somewhere

now

you might think
i’m just a silly old woman
writing poems about ants
and apples and cotton blankets

but i tell you

this is where life is

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Linking up today with the fabulous dVerse poets for Open Link Night, join us!

you know what you were meant to do
you know it in your
heart and you refuse
to listen
just exactly the same way
you never listen to the wind
in the trees at night
whispering moon love to the owl
the way you tilt your head and pause
when thunder rumbles
but never when the sky is blue
the way you walk past that same
dirty penny six days in a row
and never stoop to pick it up
you know what you were meant to do

sit down upon a rock and stay

until your back breaks

your palms bleed

your heart cracks open

every answer you need
will run down

down

through the fingers of hope
cupped to hold them

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Linking up today with the fabulous dVerse poets for Open Link Night, join us!

this lake this forest these trees

i see nothing i see everything i can’t hear a thing for all this

noise

this deafening

silence

these colors all drawn in black and white and red all over

and i bleed

i cry

i close eyes i’ve never opened

i build castles in sand made from glass

throw stones into the fire

this blistering brilliant fire

shadows dance in the embers

crickle cracked red hot

embers

remember

the ghost shape of branches

the geometry of lumber

shelter

the diaphanous

pretender

this lake this forest these trees

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Linking up today with dVerse poets for Meeting the Bar and some postmodernism, join us!

in a world filled with too many choices
how do we ever decide?

and why is the apple always drawn
to the battle of good versus evil?

adam and eve, snow white and
the wicked, hello my little pretty
and one bad can ruin the barrel,
crab and golden, eye and pie
caramel candy truths and
half-baked sugar coating

delicious, filled with life and seed
s(k)in and marrow

i wonder, tiny orb, as you hang
from your dreary tree of ornament,
why i was drawn to you and not
all the others, those brothers

of fall and folly and, of course,
you do not answer, being all ripe
and ready for the picking

you hold no wisdom beneath
the blush of skin, just beautysinbeauty
and the flavor of earth
in your heart.

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Linking up today with the fabulous dVerse poets for Open Link Night, join us!

with the posture of a perfect impostor
the kind that can look you in the eye and make you see
blue
when it has already been established
that green is the color
of tomorrow

and

i want to kiss your neck
nuzzle in a little
settle down

get to know what makes you

tick

tock

and which words are your favorite

but of course
we both know
you have already
erased them

covered them over
with hatch marks and
strips of black
marker

no looking back
no turning the page
no deciphering
because

everything you say
is code for someone
who isn’t
gone
yet

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Linking up today with the fabulous dVerse poets for Open Link Night, join us!

when i was young
it was a well-known fact
that i was the girl
who tripped over the pattern
on the kitchen floor

always falling in puddles
bumping into walls
stubbing toes and once
breaking my arm
while getting out
of the bathtub

these days
i’ve learned to navigate
a little better as i stand upright
but i find things in my basement
i’d forgotten i had
and i see myself spending years
tossing promises and
possessions

making space
that i fill with more

space

hollow bones

unchartered maps

vessels to carry me

forward

and this weekend
i installed a new floor
just like the old one except
i turned the pattern on its side

and now i wonder
what will happen

next

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Linking up today with the fabulous dVerse poets for Open Link Night, join us!

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i hear her whispers in the dark
as i lie staring at the moon
hanging in the center of my window
telling me stories i wish
i had no need to know

the apples she offers
are not spiked with poison
only withered dreams
and the juice of death
running down
through bony fingers

.

i catch all the drips
as they fall from her wrist
with a tongue
i know cannot save me

yet there is no fear
in this bracelet of decency
no menace in her offer
to share

she comes as hollowed out friend
in a cloak i choose
to wear
but makes no move
to hang it
on the shudder of my shoulders

.

she is

happy to wait

the empty space
of ticking seconds

barren and fruitful

the silence of scream
to the motherless child

she is

answer and question
one
in the lace
of each veiled eye

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Fifty days from now, I turn fifty.
And while I thought I would be dreading this birthday,
I find myself looking forward to it.
On that day, November 27th, I want to host a
“celebrate life” blog-link party here. More details to follow,
but I would love to have you join me!

Linking up today with the fabulous dVerse poets for Open Link Night, join us!

split and peeling,
cracked and scarred

still, it’s not that hard
to look
beauty
in the eye
on the days when
all around you
defeat is the ritual
of rising

and death sits
just left of the sun
right where you always
thought he’d be

though it isn’t fear
you see on the face
expected to be
so ugly

just the kaleidoscope
of promise
glinting off
the corner
of dawn
giving you
one more chance
to get it

right

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Linking up with the fabulous dVerse poets for Open Link Night, join us!