For my March cat photo calendar I got at a dollar store
—Caschwa, Sacramento
Come quick!
Grab a powerful
Telescope and
Train the lens on
That fuzzy area
Out beyond Pluto
Orbiting the sun
But not really
Part of our system
Can you see them?
Busy, energized
Swarms of adverbs
Those parts of speech
They only teach
In grammar school
And then when we
Grow up they are
Jettisoned to
The farthest dark
Corners of our
Solar system
So how does one
Get corners in an
Orbit? Don’t agonize
About it. The
Answer is found
Among the adverbs
Now put that
Telescope down
Delicate and ginger
_____________________
HUMP DAY
—Caschwa
Good morning!
A cup of coffee
Please with sugar
One lump or two?
Well, how many
Humps are there
In hump day?
I lost count.
Perfect. Just keep
Adding lumps until
You lose count
—Ann Wehrman, Sacramento
slow, sad, heavy
thunderstorm broods
spring reveals herself
budding, lush, fragrant
wet, soft air
storm passes over
rain will not fall today
maybe tonight
earth craves rain
sad, expectant
like the gaze
of a shy, sixty-year-old
woman in love
life creates life
—Ann Wehrman
smooth white ovals
eggs drop newly laid
inside each a world of soul
unique life unknown
escalating heights pleasure, pain
destiny, great accomplishment
birthmark, sixth digit
your laugh, her willfulness
eggs impersonal opaque
thin shells, dense blinds
hide multifaceted inhabitants
which order will they take?
which goes with which?
if I break this one into the pan,
will mayhem or peace result?
in her great imagination
life creates life, bubbles, eggs
inside each, Wonderland
outside, just another egg
bubbles floating on air currents
floating away
_____________________
BLESSINGS
—Ann Wehrman
at my desk tonight
working late, alone
hazy with exhaustion
late dinner fails to blunt my loneliness
I am chided
to count my blessings
by a stranger’s words
in a horoscope
I remember
feeling completely safe
feeling relaxed
feeling infinite wild love
standing in a field
under vast stars
fireflies all around
muggy Midwestern night
sleeping cherished
poor, hungry
warm in my lover’s embrace
fire of our wordless bond
losing, then finding myself
kindred souls
favorite authors’ minds
through reading their books
Christmas Eve too excited to sleep
my sister and I
Nutcracker Suite on the stereo
still believing in Santa
each day a
brave act, tense against fear
loins girded for battle
foes real, perhaps not
let it go, breathe
let it go, cry
then remember
warm with gratitude
_____________________
Today's LittleNip:
—Ann Wehrman
race through eating
food without taste, smell
appetite not hunger
like a machine
food tastes like nothing
like cardboard, air
dribbles down my chin
starving, I reach for more