NaPoWrMo: #18 & 19: On the road and in the woods

I left for a women's retreat, and there was no Wifi in my cabin last night to post, but now I've figured out that the dining hall has the good Wifi. I was driving last night, literally lost with only written directions and none on my phone because my phone is stupid. I was thinking what a metaphor that is for life, but the poem did not turn out as good as I had thought in my head. Maybe I’ll work on this later. I did write it on the 16th.

 

On the Road Again

Driving to a new destination

For rest and renewal

With only written directions

No connection to show me the way

I’ve seen the map

But not taken in

How far it really is

Every turn I wonder

Am I headed in the right direction?

Did I miss a turn?

Are these directions correct

I don’t want to wreck

It is hard to be alone

Without a working phone

It is hard to swallow

Hoping that you can follow

My senses are heightened

And I’m a little frightened

Thinking I’ve gone too far

Is that the first star?

There is a road that matches

And I think that patch is

Where I’m supposed to be

I get there eventually

A sigh of relief for me 

Morning Court

The rumbling of a low-pitched lawn mower

A buzzing bee chasing through with a fly in pursuit

Daffodils shriveled from being too early

and tight buds unfurling their bright gems

 in spring’s second sprint towards summer

bird’s solo becomes a chorus

of chirps, tweets, and whistles

that tickle my mind of what

the singer looks like and why they sing

ringing throughout the woods

that invites me into its inner sanctum

of golden early morning light

is reflected off the glittering bright leaves up high

and rolls over the thick carpet of moss and fungi

which decorates a lounge of loveliness

inviting me to stay and linger

by the welcome of flowers

peeking shy heads above

a courtroom filled with winter’s

discarded brown, grey, and yellow clothing

the white with blushing plum petaled faces

turn to welcome the growing glow

 

NaPoWrMo #16 & 17: Walking with my beliefs

 

I missed a poem on the 15^th, but now it is April 16, 2026., hence 2 poems tonight.

 The Walk

Stepping out my front door

Filling my lungs with

Fresh washed air

It is moist

Fortified with mist

Heated with early

Spring sunshine

That the green

Lush, tangled undergrowth

Steam rises off of it

to connect with the morning

Producing a silent yawn

Opening the day

Pulling back the curtain

Showing what is on stage

With daring purples, pulsing yellow,

Touches of red, white, and pink

Glittering with wet crystal-like droplets

of the overnight sassy storm

crunch of the gravel underneath my feet

as I embrace this revitalized world

who welcomes me to leave

the thunder and rain behind

 

A Firm Foundation

Belief is an unshakeable promise

To hang on to the unseen

The manifestation of  a single focus

That postulates precisely what

One knows what happens in the darkest night

And in the most gloriously bright day

Belief is someone that is more than something

That drives hard into what one can put into words

It is actively believing in oneself

That they are correct in holding this credence

Examining it and turning it over

To see what is on the very bottom

What makes it stand upright

What gives that foundation

Even when no one else thinks

They are right

It is knowing they are correct

And can conquer the doubts

Despite not being able

To see what is over that fence

And to break out of the cell

Beliefs break them out to be free

not caring  who sees them dance

to the music in their own band

knowing they have won

NaPoWrMo #15: Time for music

 I took lessons for years and still have a tug to want to play the piano well, but I never had the discipline or connection it takes to sit down and learn it. I admire that skill as my mother was the first person that I heard play the piano well, and then my sisters, who both play beautifully. It makes me swoon inside still when I hear people who have a connection with the instrument, as it is amazing to me. It makes me have a physical reaction to the music. I love it!

 

The Piano

The white smooth keys

The bumped-up black ones

Curved or straight wood

Strings that are so thick

They are taught and hard to pluck

But ring with a light touch

From hammers of velvet and stars

To sing, vibrating through me

Harmonies including me

At the touch of a masterful hand

My mother’s hands or my sister’s

An admired friend, not mine

But I would lie underneath

Feeling the notes pierce

My heart with flight

To space, to places untouched

Pure, constant, passionate

Till the tears came

Or the bells inside rang

And I was satisfied

Satiated with music’s

Seductive pull

Sounds of a well-played

Well-cared-for piano

NaPoWrMo #14: Celebrating World Quantum Day

 April 13, 2026, in honor of World Quantum Day, I can’t speak to Planck’s Constant, but I can talk about what light is to me.

 A Few Light Thoughts

Light is represented

in more ways than I could name

It is wavelengths

It is particles

It can blind

Or be not seen

With the naked eye

Some light reveals

Unseen evidence

Of bodily fluids

Or a certain ink

That is a secret

Message for

the one searching

Light can be the show

or set the mood

discovering a character

Sunshine is vital

to grow all the right things

Yet, it can scorch the earth

devastating everything

that dares to reach

towards the sun

It is life and death

It is unveiling and obscuring

It is scientifically explained

It will forever be a mystery

It is the thing we know

is at the end of that tunnel

and fills us with hope

as we run forever towards it

NaPoWrMo #13: Missing places and people

 Dave Baab, a dear saint of a man I knew from our church, died this week. It gets me missing so many that have gone on this year, last year, and the year before that, and so on…

Destination You

Someone asked me a week ago

Where would you go right now

Could you go anywhere?

So many places jumped

Through my mind

But many of those spaces

Are not occupied

With the people I loved

When I was there

They are gone

Swept away by time

That marches forward

But my feeling of being caressed

By caring in those

Countries, cities, towns,

Churches, rehearsal and green rooms,

Apartments, hotel rooms, homes,

Theaters, school rooms, restaurants,

Bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens,

Porches, barns, playfields,

Trails, dirt roads, wooden bridges,

Beaches, les Calanques, ponds,

These places hold special picnics

Late night conversations

Confessions and wonderings aloud

That split me open to a whole new world

Because someone was there to be with

That mattered and listened

Spending more than just time

But giving me gifts

Wrapped up in bright love

That is a place I can’t return to

With so many that are only spirits

In my memories or never to be

Captured again because

We were to be only in there

For that instant when we needed

Each other in that place

If I could go anywhere

It would be there

Again, with you

NaPoWrMo #12: Inspired by spring

 Spring’s Twilight Baptism

Delicate petals pealed back overblown

Reaching for that last energetic yawn

As the nutrients pushed up through the stem

Powering the blooming process

Intensifying the fragrance and hue

Taking the breath of those watching

As spring awakens, newly bathed

In the fine misty rain

Those visits between sun shots and clouds

Shimmering with the lightest rainbow blessing

Proclaiming the end of the day

NaPoWriMo #11: A Safe Return!

 The Artemis with its four brave astronauts came home safe today!

Safe Return Flight

Turning, burning, yearning

Is the roaring of our insides

That propelled the race to space

It is the coming down that

Is scarier than going up

The rocket-fueled pop

Into the blanketed blackness

Dotted with gas filled with brightness

Lifts the imagination every upward

But who wants to ever descend

Back to mudbound bleak brown

The lushest, long deep jungelesque growth

Or mountainess pristine white wilderness

Could not compare with the unknowness of space

To go to such a place is beyond compare for most

So, to come back or know how to get home

It is a rare thing to toast

We lift our glass to those four

That ventured beyond our coastal crusts

And thrust into the stars

Returning safely in a splashdown

Dreaming now of exploring Mars

As the next town

To be found among the stars