For five years or so
I sought and found poetry
Alive all around
Once fertile places
Barren of inspiration
Poetic muse fled
World news tells stories
Unjust uses of power
Death and climate change
Writing unconquered
More essential than ever
Has stories to tell
My bailiwick calls
Ordinary life a poem
Alive within self
Bright moon shone last night
Peeled tangerine for breakfast
New oak leaves flutter
Two visiting geese
Reappear out of season
Honking early morn
What if the river
I have stepped into anew
Is a wide ocean
And what if behind
Lies another blue ocean
Origin of me
” You cannot step into the same river twice.”
A quarter century ago
My first trip to Mexico
Time-share my new husband owned
Beginning of enchantment
Modest lodgings served us well
The grounds a garden wonderland
We dined at restaurants out-of-doors
Marble floors and colonnades
Mornings poolside began our days
Songs sung in Spanish set the beat
Reached crescendo by high noon
Time for water exercises
For many years and memories
I returned on pilgrimage
To a week I lived outdoors
My lease assured me many more
This place is etched deep in my soul
Place where family came to play
Wedding vows renewed on beach
Anniversaries toasted glass held high
Cousins gathered as family
Grew to soak up loving bonds
Making memories unbeknownst
Richly blessed are we all
Slowly I became aware
Grandchildren are college bound
Sons and wives have different plans
Even I am changing
It is time to say “Adios”.
What I hold dear is in the past
I’m oddly free to venture forth
Stepping into a new river
Now I can close my eyes and see
Pacific Ocean feel the breeze
Cooling at the end of day
Calm and lovely
I walk with a cane
Hiking staff put to new use
I like style and flair
Chic has its limits
No disguising poor balance
I sought therapy
Baby steps trained me
I’m a whiz on the gym floor
A wimp out-of-doors
Summoned my courage
Planned to navigate sidewalk
Leading home from church
Tucked cane under arm
Walked just like I remembered
Arrived unafraid
My current Brand New Day dawned with the Recession of 2008. Within a matter of months my oldest son’s job was eliminated. He battled the turbulent tides of semi- or un-employment for almost ten years. He was managing to stay afloat financially with consulting jobs related to his expertise in his former occupation. After I moved to Cleveland six years ago he often dropped by to visit. The many conversations we shared brought new depths to us as mother and son. We developed a routine like a rudimentary Japanese Tea Ceremony.
My son called to see if it was a good time to visit. If I was home it always was. My son drinks iced tea and I prefer coffee so we settled on water. I kept bottled water in the refrigerator for him. When I knew he was on the way I got out a bottle of water and put it on the glass-top coffee table that was my grandmother’s. I set it on a glass coaster, one of a large set we used for water and iced tea when I visited her in the summer as a little girl. After a while we decided that water in a plastic bottle was not good for the environment so I offered him a glass of tap water. Before he left he always took his empty glass to the kitchen.
In the presence of my grandmother’s coffee table and a glass of water set on her coaster we have become friends – two adults talking about his problems and then ranging to past history between us and within our family. He feels safe telling me about his disappointments and serious financial problems which naturally make his wife anxious. I am there to listen and give support. Finally after a seemingly unending two-week-long interview process he was offered the job of his dreams last week. What they want is exactly the skills he possesses. After his first day of work he told me it was the fourth happiest day of his life, after his wedding and the birth of his two sons. He told me he would not be able to visit me as often. I knew that. I was so proud and happy to hear the joy in his voice that I couldn’t ask for anything more. This was the beginning of a Brand New Day.
