I welcome myself today
to the guesthouse of my soul.
I arrive weary from worry,
from overthinking, overdoing,
and underbeing.
I enter and rest my tired hands and head.
I offer myself a cup of tea,
a listening ear, a restful place.
I welcome myself today.
JDG
While waiting for my
Covid test results, I
slept my time away on
that warm, seventy degree
post Christmas, Virginia day.
JDG
I cruise up to
the drugstore drive-through
to get my Covid test.
The clerk kindly points out
I’ve got some dead foliage
on my sweater’s sleeve.
My grandkids are right.
I’ll never be a Southern Belle.
JDG
Don’t know which causes
the biggest flutter, the wind
or the hungry birds,
but the cats seem interested
in one and not the other.
JDG
May we help transform
fear into love by
making a welcoming space
for all voices to be heard –
both those from within
and those from without.
JDG
On this Christmas Eve
a wordless source
gently spreads its silent blessing
and for a brief moment
earth mirrors heaven.
JDG
Start here, I tell myself.
Practice not making a snappy retort
when corrected by a know-it-all man
falsely telling me I’ve broken
a parking space law.
Just smile and wish him a happy holiday.
In this way I will have taken the first step
in the long journey to sainthood
and , at the same time, I will probably
have succeeded in annoying the devil out of him.
JDG
My well’s not empty,
but I can’t reach quite that deep.
I must need a longer rope.
JDG
On this cold morning
the cats and I watch the birds,
but Knox ignores them.
The squirrels, deer, and passing cars
hold much more interest for him.
JDG
Knox looks at me as if to say,
“Listen to that song’s words, Mom:
‘Peace on earth, good will to men’
and put that vacuum cleaner away.”
JDG
aholdingplace 