Worry clogs my mind
as fear tightly grips my heart
and all the while
a field of golden flowers
dances just outside my door.
JDG
Formative Conditions
An acorn must break open
to form a tree.
What must I do
to form a we?
JDG
Silent Offering
In the surrounding
woods, not a single leaf stirs.
Are the trees, like us,
offering silent thanks for
the big wind that didn’t come?
JDG
Jarred
How did Merullo
see inside my head? Hornets
in a jar, he said.
That swarm seldom seems to rest.
It’s time I removed the lid.
JDG
(With thanks to Roland Merullo and his funny and thought-provoking novel. DINNER WITH BUDDHA)
In The Stillness
The trees are so still
now. They must be directing
their energies down
deep, toward their roots, preparing
for the big winds yet to come.
JDG
Mind-boggling Discovery
Once upon a time I wrote a poem
that did not rhyme.
I knew then
I’d found
a
way
to write
that might let
me sound very
learned and remarkably profound.
JDG
Alright Already
Be here now, they say,
but what if where I want to
be is back there, back
then? Anyway, I’m here now,
noticing my pursed
lips, tight shoulders, whiny mood,
just breathing in, breathing out.
JDG
Wherefore Art Thou
Not where I once was.
Not where I’m going to be.
Right now I’m trying
to hold space for me and this
strange incongruity.
JDG
Daily Grind
Even when it doesn’t work out, there’s real
satisfaction
in doing
things my
way.
That
doesn’t
mean I can’t
do things your way.
It’s just that my teeth hurt from gritting them.
JDG
Tea And Memories
As I sit looking
out across the pond, book closed,
tea at the ready,
my thoughts turn to you now, to
you then – when we were
new to this pond, to this place,
and you still new to
this world. You were charmed then by
fish and dragonflies.
A young woman now, you’re off
to explore other
ponds and places while I hold
fast to tea and memories.
JDG
