Without warning we’re

connected again and for

a moment I don’t

miss you because you’re right here.

Then, even in that

same moment, I know you’re

forever gone and

I’m left with an aching

mix of greeting and goodbye.

                                                                                       JDG

Done in and undone

by this blast of snow… the truth

is I was simply

done until the sun arrived,

and began a slow

undoing of what the storm 

had so fiercely tried to do.

                                                                               JDG

After some hours

he returns, that male cardinal,

and proudly shows her

his find. Side by side they sit,

and sheltered from snow,

they dine, pausing only long

enough to tilt their

heads and give a sideways glance

toward encroaching chickadees.

                                                                                                                          JDG

Seeing that bumper

sticker and that license plate,

I started down a

bumpy road. Fueled with righteous

indignation and

unexamined assumptions,

I traveled along

until Pogo looked at me

and said, as he has

said before, “We have met the

enemy and he is us.”

                                                                                               JDG

In dreams all I think

I know is swept aside and

a motley crew of

is, was, and never has been

take the darkened stage.

Sometimes an “I” I barely

recognize joins in

and an alternate tale of

how things were, are, and

might still be is spun. It’s as

though I’m listening

to a wise but crazy aunt

and after I leave

I’ll have to sort things out. Still,

she has shown me how

things look from the other side

and I’m the richer for it.

                                                                                           JDG

Sometimes it’s enough

to find an unexpected

solidarity

in a brief meeting of eyes,

an awareness shared,

and the possibility

of a discussion to come.

                                                                                           JDG

This young one who took

my face into her small hands

at age two, looked me

in the eye and said, ” I told

you. People weak.” turned

 eighteen today and is as

wise and wonderful as then.

                                                                              JDG

All through the rainy

night, I dreamed of sun-lit days 

and fresh-fallen snow

only to awaken to

a warm day and still

 more rain. I know our dreams don’t

 come to poke or tease, 

but sun-lit days, fresh fallen

snow? That’s a bit much, you know.

                                                                                        JDG

The apple doesn’t

fall far from the tree. After

being told by school

officials that she must wear

a skirt or dress on

days her basketball team played,

my almost six-foot,

pants-loving granddaughter did

exactly what she

was told and paired her long skirt

 with matching basketball shoes.

                                                                                                      JDG

Looking back I see

what I couldn’t see then – how

small I was and how

big the task. Sometimes it is

ignorance that sees

us through. We don’t know how or

why or when. We just begin.

                                                                                                   JDG