Wait a minute…Wait your turnWait WaitJust you wait… What are you waiting for? Patience!learn it, own it–for being put asidepushed to the backout of the way… Wait to be askedinvitedwelcomed… Waitto be included. Wait for the start.Wait for the end. Wait for the end of waiting. CL Redding December 2022
Category Archives: Poetry
AFTERMATH
The impassioned moment’s passed,The fight’s gone out of me;tolerance and hope set inwith a sighand by-and-bythis latest violence,outrage, assaultagainst the heart and soulwill pass–and leave me livingstilland still possessedof most of what I had; Life goes onsublime,absurd,expects the future stillmakes plansinvestsand wandersdown the middle courseagain somewhere betweenthe hopeless and the glad. Disappointmentgnaws away at faith. …
Elder Dreaming
So many pathwaysdrear and close,or bright and magicalthrough woods and hillsand neighborhoods,I now will never walk… Trails to wonders,mysteries,unmet friends and scenes,destinationsand discoveriesthat once may have been… Pictures still and movingare now my wayto wander,to rememberthe feel of forest airsacross my face. CL Redding November 2022
Purdah
I am not a tootsie rollwrapped up to keep off lint and dirt.I am a human being.I have personhood and dreamsambitions, likes, desires,yearnings and creative fires… I have a life to livethat is my own. I have just angers, I have boundaries, mine,not yours. How ignoranthow arroganthow mean of youto think me nothingbut your lollipop. …
Pioneer Cafe, Montana Morning
Ladies of a Certain Agegirls no moreexcept in the heart:What Life has givenyou have takendespite the dreams you had,despite intentions and resistance;Age acquiring resiliencefor survival’s sakewhen life is hardor dull beyond endurance. Power in the circlearound the cafe tableevery morning, every dayexcept Sundays, maybe:Ladies, old and agingsocializing despite,because of Life;finding, making, sharing power’round this table…and resilience,endurance,and amusement–even some days, …
Anticipation
Sitting warm enough at my window, watchingthrough the weeks,the leaves all turning,dying, flying–Autumn draining of its color,of its spicy scents and allits memories of Summer… Winter churns and blowsnot so distantly it blustersup among the peaks,breathes out across the plains, all flurrying and hurryingto reclaim the air,the land, the bleakit seeks to hide beneath the …
Ashes in the Oracle’s Mouth
Helen, oh Helen!You silly git!You pretty face,You great lack-wit! Paris, perspectivewas never your strengthJust please yourselfat any length! Menelaus,big as a bullyour heart pumps bloodand that is all. Agamemnon,greed for powerscours your life linehour by hour. Achilles,as honest as killers come–kill and be killedis your personal sum. Hector, oh Hector,where else could you endbut dragged …
LOBSTERS ON PARADE
Across the abyssal plain,in waters weighted with the entire oceanand as utterly black as night can be,lit only by the thrashing sparking flaringof creatures bizarre by any notionof ourselves, the lubberly kind… Across these heavy deepsin measured tread of little feet crustacean,they march, determined in their questwith thoughts in mind, if there is any thinking,of …
THE MAGIC HOUR a sonnet of art and age
Stare not at the Sun, we’re oft reminded,But in the Magic Hour, as the Poets tellEyes can gaze and be not blinded–The day’s work’s done, for good or ill. The Farmer comes home from the field,The Baker from the baking;The Vintner casks the final yield,The Maker ceases making… The Magic Hour, the Artist cherishes–The Hour …
Loss
I thought you’d live forever, though I know it can’t be so–I’ve always known I’d lose you, though I thought you’d never go…There’d be time some perfect day to speak the long-unspoken word,To tell you all I needed to, to be sure that you had heard…That there’d be time to listen, to show how much …
LOOSELY SPEAKING... 