A Daily Dose of Poetry

A Hundred Falling Veils

• One Greeting May 7, 2024
  the first cello noteas the bow touches the strings—my heart as you open the door
  Rosemerry
• After Years of Pretending I Could Do It All May 6, 2024
  I said yes today when Linda askedif I’d like a nutritious drink to go.You’ll need the protein, she said, as she slippedthe bottle into a paper bag. I said yeswhen she offered to bring me food later.Said yes when she offered to bring me wine.And when Steve said, Let’s go outside,I said yes. Yes as […]
  Rosemerry
• There Is an Old Woman Inside Me May 5, 2024
  There is an old woman inside mewith long gray hair and fuzzy green eyes.She is soft in the way stones are softwhen tumbled by waves for a hundred years.She is still as I run from room to roomcontent to listen to my bluster,to watch the day unfold.Her smile is gentle as dawn lightas she hums […]
  Rosemerry
• As I Walked Out the Door May 4, 2024
  for Wendy  Into my hand, she presseda smooth rock she’d painted copper.In all capital letters, turquoise and navy,she’d written the word RESILIENCE.Beneath it she’d drawn a lopsided helix.I thought of her own spiraling with death.Two years later, she volunteersto teach in schools and dancesbefore breakfast every morningwith her husband in their living room.She finds compassion for […]
  Rosemerry
• Spelunking of the Soul May 3, 2024
    I woke in the cave of my heart,a slim shadow nested insidean unbounded shadow,and there, after decades of chatterand prattle, I found you, silence.Or more truly, after my clangingand crying, my praising and soothing,silence found me.Quiet comforter.Place of no promises.Infinite cradle. Infinite womb.An endless invitation to wakeforever.I woke in the cave of my heartbeing tuned […]
  Rosemerry
• Ready for It May 2, 2024
   “Mom, what’s the title of this song,”she asks me. I listen to the lyricsfor cues. Luckily, Taylor Swift starts to croonin her mezzo voice, part velvet, part thorn,“You’re on Your Own Kid.” And I shoutout the title. Vivian smirks,knowing I was rescued by the song.“Album?” she says. “Red?” I guess.“Wrong,” she says. “Evermore?”I guess. “Wrong.” “Midnights?” […]
  Rosemerry
• When My Mother Makes Me Tea May 1, 2024
    It is kindness that moves her handto flip the switch on the hot pot,and somehow a movementthat’s merely a flick is transformedinto an act of great love. It is kindnessthat helps her choose the mugshe thinks I’d like the most—not too small, not too big,not too clunky. Perhaps the onewith pansies. Perhaps the onethat was […]
  Rosemerry
• Risking Love: Workshop & Performance LIVE in Denver Sunday May 5 May 1, 2024
  Join me live in Denver! May 5!  Risking Love: Writing Poems that Help Us Fall in Love with the World as It Is1:30-5:30 p.m.workshop: $125“The more stuff you love, the happier you will be.”—Ross Gay, The Book of DelightsWhen bad news charges the air, it is more important than ever to both acknowledge what is difficult and explore the […]
  Rosemerry
• Instead of Turning Off the News April 30, 2024
  Because it hurts to think aboutthe lost look in the boy’s eyesas he holds out a thin silver pot for food,because I ache when I think about the rubblemade of kitchen tables and bicycles,hospitals, homes, high schools, hope,because it is so painful to not know howto help hundreds of thousandsof mothers and uncles and brothersand […]
  Rosemerry
• Afraid My Actions Would Hurt Someone Else, April 29, 2024
    my chest filled with anxiety,as if burrs grew in my bloodstream,sharp barbs catching on my skin from inside. I wanted the feeling to go away.Wanted to know I could make everything okay.And the burdock dug deeper in, clinging to my heart as it wouldto a sock or a sleeve or a dog.Inside the burr was a seed […]
  Rosemerry