summer storm

Late Sunday morning                        come away with me

Bare feet and blue jeans

With my blue sweater

And the last serving

Of blackberry pie

To the porch rocker

With coffee and cream

To sit and listen

To the percussion

Ensemble perform

music fades

her words

and her songs

change

with the seasons

so I struggle

to capture

the melodies

of her laughter

so the memory

will remain

when her youth

and the music

fade

guiding turtles

She had heard from a friend

Who heard from a stranger

That the sea turtle eggs

Would be hatching tonight

Farther down the island

And that a crowd would come

Armed with flashlights to shine

A path from land to sea

Adding to her interest
In the heat of the day

She came across a nest

That the wildlife reserve

Had marked for protection

Asking me more than once

To go at ten o’ clock

We all piled in the car

With hurry at five til

Traveling to the end

Of two dark dead end roads

With a call to her friend

Who said she wasn’t sure

Silence from the back seat

Spoke the disappointment

So in traveling back

We took her to the beach

To go check on the nest

She had found in the day

liki tiki

She had never liked ice cream

But would settle for sherbet

Or sometimes a small milkshake

Often complaining when we

Drove the traditional trip

To the local beach dairy

But as we sat there this time

Up from my butter pecan

I saw her devouring

A scoop of cookies and cream

Complete with a waffle cone

As she giggled with her friends

Taller, older –growing up

And I wondered how I had

Missed the change –

                   July, 2011

thai by the sea

A year of change held us home

Trying to create sameness

We packed lightly with our bags

But heavy with youthful hearts

And we filled the house with friends

Who filled us with acceptance

And the family memories

Resonated in the walls

Offering old traditions

As we ventured some newness

Laughing at Liki Tiki

And eating Thai by the Sea

                   July, 2011

last day

I woke earlier today

Anticipating the trip

Taking coffee and blanket

Out to the front porch rocker

The bird song was much louder

This early in the morning

Waking each other—

Finding each other –

Worrisome inquiries

Of how they weathered the night

And as they spoke from the trees

The bats darted through the sky

Frenzied flight into the pink

Adolescent and drunken

Curfew signaled by the sun

As my coffee cup emptied

The cadence calmed to chatter

The bats bent beneath the trees

The sky turned from pink to blue

With the coming of the day

It was time to go back home

                        July, 2011

bridge

another bridge

another time

stands journeyless

in setting,but

traveled in years

season to storm

darkness to day

guiding the cross

yet unknowing

of way

Last S'more

One S’more                                                    Upside Down

As the summer days

Turn to autumn nights

We gather what’s left

Of  warmer moments

Til the winter wind

Makes us hibernate

Inside of the houseOnce more

company

A fire is company

She would say

As she fed more wood

To the old black stove

In the middle of the kitchen

Then we would sit in rockers

Beside of its warmth

While it crackled its thoughts

And hissed its opinions

Into our conversation

in sickness

They lifted each other                                 falling

In times of sickness

Finding home

Beside of one another

 As they slept

In strange places

Until they could

Return together

In health