A Daily Dose of Poetry

A Hundred Falling Veils

• The Last Parent Teacher Conferences March 3, 2026
    If I were like Suzanne Valadon,fearlessly painting self-portraits as I age,I would paint this momentwhen I wander the high school hallsbetween teacher conferences, this momentwhen I’m so full of love for the girlwho will graduate this springthat I’m weeping and laughingbeside yellow lockers and postersfor basketball games. Gratefulnesscan break a heart open as easily as […]
  Rosemerry
• After March 2, 2026
   On this day aftermy country bombeda girls’ schoolacross the world,part of me does notwish to meet the day.But just after dawn,I wake to the relentlesshonking, honkingof geese returningfrom far awayto make a home againin our yard.I want to rewriteyesterday so every girlwho went to schoolalso came hometo her family,so every mother and fatherwoke this morning […]
  Rosemerry
• Illogic March 1, 2026
    deploying bombsto achieve lasting peace—like planting barbed wireand expecting to growa rose bush
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• One Garden February 28, 2026
    I am no longer surprisedwhen strange, exoticblooms appear in my mind,knowing now how seedsarrive on the wind from everywhere.Now, I am less likely to labelsomething weed simply becauseI didn’t plant it myself.At the same time, I wantto be discerning, knowingwhatever I choose to grow mightappear soon in the soil of you,so I am cautious when […]
  Rosemerry
• ! February 27, 2026
  for Mark Burrows And there, in your letter, several doors,all of them in the shape of an exclamation point,all invitations to slip myself throughtheir dark slender lines and intothe realm of ecstasies—world of oh!and wow! and yes! and love!—into the sensory kingdom of blissesthat is always here, and yet somehowI miss it, dulled as I am […]
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• A Sign? February 26, 2026
    There, on my sleeve, a small white feather.I don’t know that I believe in signs.But the white feather that appears on my sleevewhile I think of saying goodbye to my girldoesn’t mean nothing. It says to me,pay attention. It says, slow down. It says,you have learned how to love what isn’t here.  I think of […]
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• The Trap February 25, 2026
  for Coleman Barks (April 23, 1937-Feb. 23, 2026)  It took me six monthsto get Coleman Barksto grant me permissionto use his translations of Rumi.Six months of fretting.Six months of worry.Six months of feeling unworthy.One day my friend askedwhat was taking so long.I told her, I hadn’t yet summonedthe courage to ask him.In five minutes, she’d found […]
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• One Deep Listening February 24, 2026
    inside the prickly silencea generous silence—in the desert, a hidden spring
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• In that Tender Moment February 23, 2026
  for Paula  With one fingertipI drew gentle spiralson the smooth, bareskin where only weeksago her hair had beenand her eyes fell closedand her breathing slowedand I felt her whole bodysoften, felt how strong,how brave she has hadto be for so long, so long.How I loved her thenin that moment whenshe let me see beneaththe smile, beneaththe […]
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• The Rooms of the Heart February 22, 2026
                    for Rachel  I thought my heart might need a makeover.There are well worn paths from all the entrancesand exits. The color palette hasn’t changedsince the early seventies when the heartwas first decorated. And the four chambers,sometimes feel a little tight. Shouldn’t I make ita little nicer for guests? I spoke to the interior designer,asked her […]
  Rosemerry