A Little Sign of Life

The tomato seeds have finally sprouted!
I was starting to lose hope
Turns out I did not need to doubt it
Campari seeds know to cope
Time and sunshine
Water and warmth
Patience wins the day
Hurray!

A Verse

April landed with bluster

So cold you could freeze

Now at last there is sunshine

There are buds on the trees

Birds, bees and flowers

Breathe sighs of relief

As do I

Fact-checking Galileo

May I be enlightened by Wednesday
And relaxed by tonight
May I be unfrightened by headlines
And calmed by the sight
Of clouds in blue sky
And stars in the night

Pressures to conform
Can be harsh yet defied
At times truth is hidden
At times someone lied

Galileo wasn’t wrong
In his time and in his day
With proud claims and accusations 
the collective got their way

May we keep an open forum
as we strive to make our case
Seeking truth ahead of power
as we run this human race

Sleep per Chance

Say Good Night Gracie

Insights abound

and perspectives are found

and still I find myself thinking around

       in circles and tangents in more than one bound

Awakened abruptly mid-sleep in my bed

and wondering where all the insights have fled

and why do I still get these feelings of dread

with unwelcome thoughts that pop into my head?

Ah, well, it’s a cycle, it’s a pendulum swing

Last night I was laughing a lot in a dream

An optimistic upheaval; a paradigm shift?

A chance that I’m finally catching the drift?

Look at these thoughts that give me no clue

and the awful imaginings that have seldom rung true

See them clearly for the imposters they are

Seemingly logical, yet impossibly vague

Midnight meanderings are usually wrong

That’s a real thing that some scientist said

Not at your best in a bed lying down half asleep

Counting back from a hundred with some rag-taggled sheep

Practice relinquishing future prediction

What a collection of unvarnished fiction!

This is a welcome and pure benediction

Say goodnight and give way to sleep’s jurisdiction

Growing

A growing trepidation
and unwelcome dread
have taken up residence
inside my head

If I allow it,
these crashers will stay
take a place at my table
and not go away
inflict endless reminders
that things will go wrong
and all of the good
won’t be mentioned at all

The mind likes to focus
and fix and prepare
Be cautious, be wary
look out and take care

Imagined catastrophes
harsh words without sense
unbearable acts
and cruel events
even if they occur
even if they are true
they cannot be resolved
by thinking them through

So stop for now
it’s what I must do
less frantic options
are there to pursue

If I allow it,
I can dismiss the dread
and let visions of sugarplums
dance in my head

The Edge of Normal

According to the Body Mass Index chart, I am on the edge of normal. Well doesn’t that just say it all.

So close and yet…..still not quite there.

If I lose just one more pound, just one, I will ease right off the overweight box and right into normal. Ahhh.

I bet if there’s a chart for emotional well-being, I might be on the edge of normal on that one, too. Something good keeps me on this side of that dark line.

Bottom line:

Life,

on the high side of normal

suits me just fine

as I work to be stronger

in body and mind

Some time in August

I should reach my prime

And bee-bop-a-lou

is the end of the rhyme

 

 

 

Day 4: Clouds and Sun Together

A view from my street on this beautiful day 

More than the routine quota of neighbors

Are heading my way

          In isolation and uncertainty

          In asymmetrical array

          We walk together

          While staying apart

          With a smile and a hand to heart

         The sun can keep a hope alive

         A quiet hope that we all will thrive 

 

 

Day 2: Open Season

Let the sunshine in please

and bring its warmth to earth

Time to gather hope again 

    and find out what it’s worth

Let the gale become breeze

     and find its way my way

This winter wind that lingers

     has clearly overstayed

Let the weather perk up

     and settle into spring

The lettuce seeds have sprouted

      the grass is turning green

Which means the time is just right

     to brighten up the scene

 

 

Day 1: Is April a Poetry Month?

Is April still Poetry Month?

If so, I would like to begin to prepare

A poem that is presumably ready to share

But it turns out the fact of the matter is this

Right at the moment it does not exist

I ain’t got a poem 

 

The Option of Joy

Perhaps it would be okay to have a false sense of well-being

Whenever a true one is not available

Seems like that might work out okay

It would be almost like optimism, I’d say

Which is supposed to be good for the health

and for the general happiness of a being

Joy in the midst of days that mystify

Worth a try