by the light

for the past few nights, we've had this very bright moon.

doll in the cake

I was reminded this year, by the attentions of my friends & family,

of how lucky I am, to have them help me to celebrate my birthday. even when I'm not all that thrilled by another birthday.

(above, a birthday past. two chubby-cheeked, sun-tanned children. with a special cake made by a great-aunt, which only had the top half of the doll (no legs). I remember being disappointed, when realizing the doll wasn't really a doll, but just a cake decoration.)

thank you.

may

storms, poppies & peonies, planting seeds, wearing flip-flops, strawberries out of the garden, feeling sun on skin, open windows, night breezes to sleep to.
gifts with the mail. and zwiebach & coffee, followed by a walk on the farm.


 may is a good month for a birthday.

my poppies

are blooming. prettily.

a.word.a.day ockham's razor

Ockham's razor

PRONUNCIATION:

(OK-ehmz RAY-zuhr)

MEANING:

noun: The maxim that the simplest of explanations is more likely to be correct.

NOTES:

Ockham's razor states that "entities should not be multiplied needlessly". It's also called the principle of parsimony. It's the idea that other things being equal, among two theories the simpler one is preferable. Why razor? Because Ockham's razor shaves away unnecessary assumptions. Ockham's razor has applications in fields as diverse as medicine, religion, crime, and literature. Medical students are told, for example, "When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras."

fruit

I have an apricot tree in my backyard. Every year it blooms, but this is the first year it also produced fruit.
Last night's storm knocked a few into the grass.
But I may get a chance to eat just one.

The days are brighter. But the storms pass through often.

And I still feel like something is missing.

corner question

I'm feeling okay with not guessing what.

a.word.a.day achates

(you know who you are)

Achates

PRONUNCIATION:

(uh-KAY-teez)

MEANING:

noun: A trusty friend or companion.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Achates, the faithful companion and friend of Aeneas, in the epic poem Aeneid by the Roman poet Vergil (70-19 BCE). In the story, Achates is called fidus Achates (faithful Achates) and he accompanies Aeneas everywhere in his adventures.

from boxes

Caddy got the box and set it on the floor and opened it. It was full of stars. When I was still, they were still. When I moved, they glinted and sparkled. I hushed.

-Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury.

I'm reading an old favorite. And I'm finding things I'd forgotten. The picture is also an old favorite.

aging

this elderly old guy has been diagnosed with renal failure.

considering he is 18 years old, and this is the first time he's been diagnosed with anything, I think he's done a pretty good job.

and now he has weeks, months or even a year left.

he doesn't know he's sick. he's more concerned with the birds chirping outdoors. and he is enjoying the expensive new prescription cat food.

I hope he never knows he's sick. and his 18th year is a peaceful one.

planted, not planted

everything outside is waking up.

I realised today that it had yet to occur to me, to start some seedlings. usually by now my windowsills are full of little plants.

for months now, it has just seemed that something is always out of place.

young and old

i'm looking for the face I had 

before the world was made.

-Yeats

in motion

 

in motion

you walk,

you get muddy.

water in motion

will not see the stars.

you walk,

you go blank.

you stop walking,

you dream.

-federico garcia lorca

selected

The sunlight in a
yellow plaque upon the
varnished floor

-William Carlos Williams

a.word.a.day heliolatry

heliolatry

PRONUNCIATION:

(hee-lee-OL-uh-tree)

MEANING:

noun: Worship of the sun.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Greek helio- (sun) + -latry (worship). A related word is heliotrope (a plant that turns toward the sun).

icy

february silence

gift

you tell me that silence

is nearer to peace than poems

but if for my gift

I brought you silence

(for I know silence)

you would say

   This is not silence

   This is another poem

and you would hand it back to me.

-Leonard Cohen

in winter

 I bake.

waiting

 

waiting for the chill in my bones to leave. for darkness to be pushed later into night.

there is no option but to wait.

wait for snow to melt. for Time to bring Spring. wait for light. 

neruda's chickens

picture from one of my windows last night.

this morning woke up to a cold, gray, dingy January morning.
And this poem was inside my head. A friend once read it to me.
I suppose that means I was also thinking about that friend this morning too.


A Certain Weariness

I am weary of chickens:
no one knows what they are thinking,
and they look at us with dry eyes
and consider us unimportant...

Pablo Neruda