Cut Flower

The roses are
holding their breath
Trembling petals brush
the velvet cheek
Blushing pride
shock and wonder

I am wanted
like a favorite shirt
comforting book
glistening cold drink

I relax into you
like a cosy chair
at the cabin
warm in front of the rusty
smell of cedar on the fire

and the rose exhales
opens its arms



Photo credit: Joyce Rempel

Please Color Outside the Lines

I observe the show
swiss precision
every actor hits their mark
no line dropped
the tailored words fit well
songs in tune on tempo

but the one beside me yawns
the show is vanilla
without depression or passion
good costumes, yes,
but empty eyes

Please tell me a story
with dirt under its fingernails
sweaty socks kicking the dog
bread crumbs swept under the mat
wine stain across the pocket

show me
something worthy
of trinity split
blood spilt



Picture:  Everett Shinn, Footlight flirtation; accessed online, September 18, 2017

Be Still

In the crush of all that is internet
The noise of all that is media
Relentless pursuit of better faster stronger prettier
Perfect

I stand in awe
of quiet simple gifts:
the sigh of my aging dog
comfort of a handmade quilt
soft snow on pine bough and eyelash
voice of my Beloved calling:
Come away and rest for a while
You are my joy

And I am carried.



Picture: sourced online

Amaneciendo

Amaneciendo

He draws back the curtain

across a wakening sky

Earth curves the arch of her back

stretches arms of light

to take up the baton of morning

conducts the deliquescence of night

from indigo to amaranth bloom

while I absorb in awe and silence
embraced by a higher love

We're Good

Goodbye B.C.
Thanks for the rugged beauty.
You'll never be Alberta but as long
as you hold my son well,
we're good.



Photo credit: Joyce Rempel, lower mainland, southeast of Chilliwack, BC

Night Light

Just after the sun conquers the eastern horizon,
before the mountains win in the west,
the magic hour casts its lumens
like the pink dress or golden hair of a young girl

I am five, stare with child-wonder,
pivot from east to west, sparking bright
light mirrored in my face from infinite prairie
to snowcapped peaks

There is no darkness
no measurable blackness
only, with time, comes the absence of light
to my sight, to my heart

Yet the Light is always shining
it is my perspective that changes
hold that child-wonder in the night
the morning is a breath away