042509
BON VOYAGE

Off you go into the East--
Peace Corps-two-year-stint. Cheers--
toasts and travel-friendly presents at the pub.
we'll keep pictures of smiling faces and beer.
our hopes and dreams and
the-selves-we've-never-been go with you:
off into the East
to teach
to help and
to learn the ways of a wider world.

The Hard Way: Stories of Danger, Survival, and the Soul of Adventure

042209
WORK OUT

Morning!
Time to feed the cat,
nuke a cup of tea and
pull on shoes and sweats.

I set the timer
add a little incline and start walking the walk.

Yes,
it's beautiful outside
but in here my rubber concourse keeps me
on track.

Step by step
I wake.


042309
TOO MUCH INFORMATION

Why did I tell you?
Apparently,
honesty's price is pain.

Confession is good for the soul
unburdened, but
what of the soul of the confessor? I
was unsettled, defensive. You were
stricken, betrayed.

Love you
I did, but
love was not enough to extinguish the burning
restlessness inside me. I
always wanted more. To be
more.
To do
more. To
feel more.

I was not the woman
we both wanted me to be. You
were not the man I needed. Our love
broke--
stretched
far beyond romantic nostalgia.


042409
PCH

the highway beckons.
wind whispers, now roars and
the road ahead sings with speed. I'm giddy
with the promise of forward motion, drunk
with anticipation of mysteries around the next bend.
asphalt
calls to a deep restlessness inside of me, a siren song
luring me
onward,
outward.
and off-course.

more April09 poetry-each-days.....

041809
GATHERING

visiting the family, I
sit quiet amidst
the cacophony of excited voices. The
clashing threads of conversation run
around one another
-- a rising tide
of sound rolling in and out like a wave. Sibling
rivalries seep out from under adult veneers as
I remember
childhood dinner tables--a race
to the last breadstick.

041909
IMPLOSION

hot flash
teeth gnash
I suddenly cannot breathe
every muscle clenched
clamped down to contain

you just don't think
don't consider others
don't see your impact
yet deny
this is so

and so
there is no recourse
no words to clarify
to rectify
to purify the damage

and so
there is no place for this fire
except down
inside

042009
THIS MOMENT

Every morning you
wake up breathing
you're ahead of the game.
in dreams you fly,
inhale and lean into the breath at the perfect angle
and you catch an updraft.
is this what geese await as they prepare for migration?
breathe
and in the space between in and
out--
live.
just breathe
and grasp a new beginning.

042109
SEASIDE

fog rolls in damp, cold
sits heavily on the sand
hungry gulls circle


ABOUT HAIKU
a single image
distilled
fashioned by form
a verbal elegance
a mystery
a snapshot of this moment