A Daily Dose of Poetry

A Hundred Falling Veils

• Sisu November 28, 2021
  Sisu is a Finnish word that describes the Finns. It refers to grit, determination and bravery in the face of obstacles and a willingness to keep going when others would give up. Superman had his flowing red capeand Ironman had his red armor,but my father hadhis black wingtip shoeswith one heel built tallerthan the other […]
  Rosemerry
• Missing My Father November 27, 2021
  When you miss him, look inside.            —Deb Stevens, private correspondence Today when I miss my father,I hear him in my voice when I say,You’ll go broke saving money.I feel his tenderness in the wayI hold my own daughter’s hand.His laugh blooms inside my laughwhen I giggle hee hee hee.Here he is, ever inside me.Returning home […]
  Rosemerry
• What the Sky Knows November 26, 2021
  Before the feast,I slip outsideinto the rose glowof evening andtalk to my loveswho no longerwalk this earth,and I thank themfor being in my lifeand I cry and cry.  How is it possibleat the same timeto hold so much griefand so much gratitude?And the sky holds meand the rooftops, thestreets and the fields,the factories and forests,it […]
  Rosemerry
• New Territory November 25, 2021
  My grief has inside it a forest, thriving,evergreens of all ages, each tree grownfrom a seed of gratitude, each seed sown from a kindness, a beauty,a tender word. Some trees were plantedby strangers, others by beloveds, and others I planted myself.See how it is that in these momentswhen I think my feet are too leaden […]
  Rosemerry
• Instead of Shutting Down November 24, 2021
  Cast your lot with all small things.—Sharon Corcoran, from her new poetry collection The Two Worlds Today I cast my lotwith the tiny tea leavesgiving their all to hot water.I cast in with the light touchof my brother’s hand on my shoulderand the slight whimper my mother makeswhen she finds in the closet the giftmy […]
  Rosemerry
• Leaning All the Way In November 23, 2021
  If I let it be,grief is a chairthat supports mewhen I crumple.It requiresnothing of meexcept that I give itall my weight.Limp, I sink in,and it doesn’t ask meto try to pretendI could rise.It lets me wet leaf.It lets me empty room.It lets me vast sky of gray.It holds me.I lean in.I nothing for a time.I […]
  Rosemerry
• One Last Night November 22, 2021
   his breathing shallowstill he laughs, says I love you—this bright falling star
  Rosemerry
• That Passes All Understanding November 21, 2021
  from our birth … to our death … the wonderment …             —Dr. Charles Henry Wahtola, Jr., November 19, 2021 And so as the priest leads usin the litany for the time of death,and though we are sincereas we pray, Have mercy on your servant,we laugh as my father tells Father Keiththe sermon can only be […]
  Rosemerry
• Staring at My Father’s Chair November 20, 2021
  He isn’t in it, his chair,the big brown onethat tilts forwardand reclines, butthe slip coverson the arm restsremember his hands—they are wornto a lighter shadeof brown. I imagine,my own handscould be a lighter shadefrom all the timeshe held them,his thick fingers wrappedaround mine, his thumbworrying a small circlein my palm. MayI, too, be markedby his […]
  Rosemerry
• There Is Only the Field November 19, 2021
  On the day my father begins hospice,I watch the pronghorn in the field,marvel as their brown- and white-striped bodiesnearly disappear in the dead grass wherethey graze. If only I could camouflagemy father so death can’t find him, so that painwould never have discovered him.Tomorrow, my mother and brother and Iwill gather around him the way […]
  Rosemerry