Day #305: Poem Group

#305

So begins November.  Grace and I have made a commitment to write a poem a day for 10 days.  I will post my poems and sometimes Grace's.  Does anyone want to join us?   We would love it if you did.  This first poem is Grace's  (For those who don't know, Grace is my niece.  She is a writing teacher in the public schools in Georgia and a life-long poet.)

I was excited last Sunday

when I bought four and a half yards

of Japanese inspired silk.

It was a lively olive green

covered in shiny, gold dragonflies.

I bought it to make curtains

for my bedroom window

in my new place in town.

The window faces a parking lot,

and the street lights blare through

the blinds at night.

This artificial light tricks 

my rural brain

into thinking it's daylight 

and wakes me

disoriented 

throughout the night.

I sewed the first panel

of course without taking

any measurements

but figured I was being generous.

When I hung it in the window,

it fell short about nine inches,

reminiscent

of adolescent

pant legs.

In the strange lighting

the lively olive green

turned to a bland moss

where the shiny dragonflies 

became lost.

Now I'm left to wonder

what else I can make

with four and a half yards

of green Japanese silk.

I still believe

there is always a place

for all lost and lovely things 

to live.

c. Grace

 Jane Edwards says:: " I encourage those interested in preventing unnecessary adoptions to look at the their state laws and work to change them to allow mothers time to decide."

First Mother Forum


Red to Brown

mustard, cinnamon and amber

a layer of thick frost

turn the leaves the color

of your favorite brown

      suede boots,

naked branches

The line of storms weakened

to short spurts of rain.

Bright reds turn to burgundy

     and stillness

consumes the first day of early night.

Darkness at five.

I bake chicken and mushrooms

 stir ginger into my applesauce.

I try to balance the darkness as

     it begins

the new season of hibernation

sleep and revival. 

11/1/10