otoh emerges from a comma
I still have to get through final exams this week but I expect to be posting [ir]regularly again. I’ve missed this place. And I’ll have a special announcement [actually, a few of them, but only one at a time...] really soon!
Love arrived
from out of the blue
danced a while
and sang
then
Love departed
leaving
only the blue
In my hammock I lie
Just me, the trees, and the sky
I swing in my sling and I try
To salve the sting of goodbye
To halve the us into I
I feel what I feel and I cry
And deal until tears are dry
Bereaved, I heave a sigh
The leaves all whisper, “Why?”
She leaves just me, and I
Am alone with the trees and the sky
Of course, now she’s trotting alongside the nurse to run some tests. An hour ago she couldn’t stand on her own. I’m glad I had the presence of mind to bring along a book to read. I’ll have gone through five chapters before I leave tonight. Don’t ask me what any of it is about. My eyes scan the words, but my head is elsewhere.
Through the closed door I hear the voice of the receptionist on the phone. “Are you in the car now? Is there someone there with you? Is he still breathing? It’s okay, honey. I need you to calm down. We have to get you here safely and then we can help. Is there someone there with you? Do you know where the exit is? Take a left. It’s okay, honey.”
I wonder, how can this be just another night at work for her? But it must be. Add it to the list of jobs I would hate worse than the one I have. The nurse brings my girl back to me. I remove the muzzle while we wait for test results. I look into brown eyes turned a little cloudy with age. Trusting eyes. Loving eyes. Eyes that have been glad to see me every. single. day. for nearly 14 years. Astounding.
“I’m not ready to let you go,” I tell her. She thumps her tail a couple times and then lies on the tile floor. I go back to staring at the pages of my book. And we wait.
The doctor shows me the EKG printout. Her heart is beating irregularly. “The chambers are like dancers listening to different songs,” he says. The familiar lub-DUB lub-DUB lub-DUB is reduced to lub-lub-lub-DUB lub-lub…DUB. Meanwhile my heart is beating wildly. We don’t know what causes it. Drugs are rarely effective in treating it. There are pacemakers. [Dog pacemakers. Really?]
I promise to make an appointment with her regular doctor. There’s nothing more we can do tonight. Come on, baby. Let’s go home.
There’s a series being published over on Vox Poetica called “Aspects of the Elephant.” It’s a poetic look at various viewpoints on love. You really should be reading it. And not just because one of my poems, Words on a Wire, is scheduled to be up there today. [But, if you want to use that as an excuse to check it out, who am I to complain?] It will be on the Today’s Words page today and then moves to the Poemblog page.
Well, I didn’t expect to have these announcements on two consecutive days. My poem “Reach” is now on Vox Poetica. It will be on the Today’s Words page today and then moves to the Poemblog page. I’m in such good company there too so make sure you take time to read some of the other great work when you visit.
My microfiction piece “Valentia” was just published on Pow Fast Flash Fiction. Woo hoo!
Go look. And make sure you take the time to read the other fine fine work over there.
Less is more
when, like love,
it is
limitless
boundless
countless
shapeless
formless
harmless
breathless
nameless
shameless
You reach, this time… it’s three
Touch the key, that’s touching me
The key, the type, the touch, the tone
We are sitting all alone
A thousand miles in between
Far too far to be seen
You are there, I am here
But we are closer than we appear
I saw a ghost today
in the grocery store
by the frozen foods –
that figures… cold as ice –
you stood there
staring at me
in that tone of voice
But you can’t haunt me
any more
the next aisle is fresh produce
I have moved on
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