Lest you think that I’m all grumps and thunder these days . . . I’m either laughing here at the enormity of my own belly, or at something Ella was saying.  Maybe both.  As baby gets closer, I can’t help but remember the baby who might have been born in October.  Every time I dream ...
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Shekinah, grant me
this grace: let these hands
shape dough once more,
let me be the one to light
the morning fire, to stir the pot of soup
with the big silver ladle.
Let me seek the blessings
you have hidden all around us
in plain sight.
Let me bend down once more
to lift the snowy cover
and grasp the ...
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(First, thank you for all your kind comments and wishes – if I were here more, I would say thank you individually, but for now – a big collective thank you and a hug!)

Grandmothers, please come
back.  I need you
now that you are vanished.
Please bring fried chicken and pickles,
mashed potatoes with gravy, gumbo
and rice, a shrimp ...
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Conception

The week you enter our lives,
it rains and rains. The rooster
shakes his tail feathers in the drizzle
and crows for the first time.
I had wanted a life ready
for you – sheep grazing
in the orchard, every room
painted the right color.

We knew already the ways
we would fail you.

In the end, we were no less greedy
than the gods. ...
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This poem is so appropriate, I couldn’t resist sharing it with you. It’s from the book Ten Poems to Set You Free that I mentioned in Yarn Along. (And yes, we’re using soil blocks to start our seeds, just like last year – we love them!)  Those of you who know me, know ...
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(photo by Ben on New Year’s Day)
Taking Joy
Twenty seven now, I am ready.
I gather all the old depression journals,
the teenage collages and melancholic cds, and I put them out
on the curb.  Don’t leave us, they cry,
you need us, we are part of you.
I turned my back, I forgave us all
and walked inside to this life,
where ...
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*What wonderful comments from all of you, dear readers, on yesterday’s posts.  Replies are on the way – I would be delighted to make some chicken stock together, and some bread.  Let’s talk about nourishing your family (and yourself!) without driving yourself nuts.  Let’s walk this path together.*
The best antidote to feeling frightened at the ...
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Grateful to be back in the habit of gratitude.
(Seth working on the horse-drawn harrow)
So very, very grateful for the beautiful birth of our dear friends Seth & Bethany’s new baby boy, Case.  Welcome, Case!
And grateful, for this, which came like a gift.
The Turning
And now, I begin to turn home.
That simple,
that hard.
Wood stacked and ready,
knives sharpened,
fabric, ...
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If this be the world
If this be the world, let us continue
as we are today-clean pants
and green sweaters, the river pounding
below us, buttery light coming
through tall windows onto worn
wooden floors. If the truth
cannot be known,
if this be the world, let it go
on.  Where leaves have fallen,
let them fall again.
(c) 2005

This week, I’m grateful for the return of poetry to my life.

Spring Equinox
Today, we woke up
happy.  We fed the horse,
the sheep, we spread out a blanket
on the living room floor
and had a breakfast picnic,
giggling.  The sun warmed us,
we opened the windows, we remembered
this life’s perfection.
The day went on, and we forgot.
We were cranky, tired, our ...
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