I love the SHADE on a hot day
LORDY, how I love to sit
And think a little bit
Even when it’s shade cast
By a bunch, a MONDO
Grouping of a CONDO

Georg’ann

Renata submitted her screenplay, relieved to finally be done, it was getting harder and harder to come up with storylines. She was ready for a something new though she made excellent money churning them out.

In this one the main character was much like herself, a QUIET woman in her early 30s, not much external SPARK. It begins one morning as she is walking out the door. Her attention is drawn to droplets of BLOOD by the mailboxes in the entryway of her building. And so sets off the not so very MOODY story of The CONDO Corpse, a light mystery in the style of Monk, Murder She Wrote, Psych and the like. TV viewers never tired of this genre, even if she were tired of writing it.

Heather

Despite my PLEAS
She took down the statue
ERECT this statue had stood, for years
HOMED from our previous place, symbol of our passion and devotion
I tried to exert pressure, UNDUE I am sure,
But she would not BUDGE
Nor would she FUDGE her reasoning to soften the blow
Only saying at last, please do not JUDGE

Georg’ann

Walking along the shore
Picking up STONE after stone
Round, or not so much
Some FLAKE from the cliffs around, others washed in
I hear the voice of an old friend CHIDE me for gathering
Sticks, stones, bits of bark, discarded nests, seed pods, twisted vines and such.
Believed in something called the Butterfly Effect, leave it be
Would not BUDGE
Still I collect natural remnants of time and place
Who was he to JUDGE?

Heather

On this day, SPARE a thought for yourself, for your DEARY, really for all the world. Wake up and be ALERT to the nuance and the moment. It takes very little EXTRA effort and the reward is great.

Georg’ann

It’s not the SNOWY wonderland
of evergreen branches laden
This one is a bitter dusting
Cold that bites QUICK
GREAT TAMER of expectation
RATHE guests ventured to our doorway,
left their boots by the doorway and
various wraps on the front room bed.
Warmth filled all the cracks
Plentiful in every respect
More than enough for the EXTRA guest,
stranded by his cancelled flight.
gleaming eyes, genteel and fawning
stranger becomes one with us

Heather

Playing the MISER Scrooge required a bent-over SPINE, and a certain surprising amount of POISE to face the ghostly visitors.

Georg’ann

a season of constant adjustment to weather, illness, complicated schedules
Are the LEAST of what unsettles
ineffable, intangible strings move me like a marionette
Moods vacillating creates sensation of seasickness
The way nothing feels quite steady after a long boat ride, even solid ground seems to shift
FRESH rosemary and sugar cookie scent
olfactory portals open delight then drop suddenly into sorrow
Please puppetry master guide my performance delicately give me POISE in all movements through this scene

Heather

GRIEF, that the ROAST must be set aside.
Anxiety, that there is to be no reading from the TORAH, no lighting of the six candles, then the seven.
Furtive touches to the chest and a sense of wonder that the heart keeps on – ventricles, AORTA, vena cava – despite the sense of breaking

Georg’ann

Such thick FROST
Windows are white, I cannot see out.
Cocooned under layers of blankets.
Wind howls, occasion sounds of something human or animal
Am I imagining it? Pervasive thoughts of danger outside these white windows
Thoughts become a piercing THORN
What am I to do with GATOR?
The Shining or Florida? Unappealing associations.
Change channel, ponder a TORTA rich enough to clog the lines to any AORTA

Heather

She placed the carefully crafted WHEAT stalks on the dough. Giving them a pinch and an adjustment, she decided that the bread was ready to place in the brick oven. Taking an EMBER from last night, she stoked the fire back to life. Morning efforts ENDED, her thoughts turned to her studies. She really wants to escape the hard life of a baker and to do that must EXCEL in school.

Georg’ann

Her brain is functioning, she will surely EXCEL, though the town will sorely miss her morning efforts. Her breads were works of hearty art.

Heather

To expose a CHEAT:
Lift the heaviest rock you can find without a GROAN,
Seek out the clearest body of water not more than one mile from you dwell. Stand by that body of water, and under the full moon, drop the rock into the LUNAR reflection in the water, saying “Deceive me not, deceive me no longer, deceiver appear!” The image of the one you seek to expose will appear in the water as it settles back to calm.

Georg’ann

We’ve come here to
DRINK
in the silence
perhaps too expectant
of an imagined epiphany
abundant insight and outpouring
at this writer’s RANCH
Utilizing both
Solar power and
LUNAR energy

Heather

It was only LATER – after years, in fact – when she had occasion to reopen the TRUNK, that she realized that the small statue, a TORSO of Vulcan did in fact resemble that TWIRP she had married, her THIRD but not last husband.

Georg’ann

Olive’s bright blue eyes sparkled under her towhead blond bangs as the GREAT magician performed his last TRICk. Watching intently as the cards were shuffled, she was enchanted. Finally his hands stopped their sleight. A long pause, tension building, before he bent down to her and pulled out the THIRD card from the right in the broad fan of cards.
She squealed with delight as he handed her the 6 of diamonds.

Heather

“It will help our CAUSE to start with a clean SLATE, but that may not be possible,” said the fox eyeing the henhouse.

Georg’ann

Eyes look upon the FANCY window displays, enchanted.
Cranberry clafoutis baked in a shallow 2 quart dish.
Hoping for a STAMP of approval,
I purchase a black SLATE cheese board.

None of this has yet to pass, only aspirations beginning to form
as the stillness of Advent is pulled
into movements of the next season.

Heather

I will DANCE. EAGER to release the pain, find the joy, ground myself in connecting to the floor. I cannot wait for LATER, for it never arrives. Let me defy the dark, light the TAPER, and begin

Georg’ann

BAKER wakes early
Lights a TAPER, gathers bowls
Kneads flour, water, yeast

Heather

Swinging her legs, Gretchen hugged her teddy bear close. The pew was hard and she was BORED. It was only adults, winter dresses and suits for as far as she could see, a CROWD of browns, tans, and an occasional bright scarf. She leaned back, closed her eyes and waited for the opening CHORD. It was a magic she could rely upon: the moment when the standing grown-ups would turn into a flock of tuneful birds. Her eyes closed, she is lifted up by the song, feeling alive and peaceful, suspended and yet energized. Many years later, when she was among the elders at the Zen monastery, she would speak of this as the beginnings of her search for God.

Georg’ann

My 5th grade teacher had us start each morning singing
“You Light Up My Life”
And “Morning Has Broken” while she played the piano
Mrs. Johnson let me know I was no GREAT singer, her appraisal still smarts.
True, I may not have been destined to join the CHOIR,
Yet what was the need to make my joyful voice constrict,
in the midst of her intended musical praise for our day?
Struck the wrong CHORD
A lifetime reverberation

Heather

I claim my space in the kitchen. A meditation begun in YEAST, sung in cinnamon, and spread with the MINCE across pies, breads, cakes, and rolls. A space WHERE, despite the assumptions of others, I have nothing to PROVE. Where I can, paradoxically, in solitude or in community, PROBE the depths of love and give expressions to my own honest joy and creativity.

Georg’ann

I’m READY for the SHORE,
ready to go for BROKE
PROBE no further
Truth revealed where land and sea converge

Heather

Shall I embrace or tame the BEAST within? Which do I choose as a guiding AXIOM for my life? Is one more VALID than the other? I find myself struggling with these RIVAL approaches.

Georg’ann

Waiting for the kettle to ping
Steam rising from the spout
Will it eventually damage the cabinet, this daily deluge
Inside the dim kitchen
Outside it’s MISTY grey
Moisture
My fingers assesses the avocado
They RIPEN too quickly
This one is past usability
Waste
Pouring water over rich grounds
the RIGID folded filter softens
My RIVAL wants blueberries
In his oatmeal
I want cherries

Heather

Clapping his hands, Bertram called the cast back. “Listen up, people! Let’s go back over the scene where Dimitri steps center stage right. And go!” Dimitri steps and sings, “I will FLING /Into your arms /No more MEALY man /No more shying away /You are worth every bit of LABOR /My darling, my USUAL, unusual gal!”

Georg’ann

Pause to say, “I’m stuck”
Clears the block
Come back with FRESH eyes
And she emerges immediately
Larger meaning not lost
Learning to take STOCK
Everything is layered and useful
Enjoy the QUIPS, let go the barbs
Restructure the USUAL into meditation

Heather

A noisy DREAM in a QUIET night… No doubt PHONE-induced anxiety, driving my brain to imagine one voice and then another, overlaid with a podcast and a playlist, all SPOKE to me in a cacophony of directives and emotions. I open my eyes, deep relief floods in. I replace the chaos with the sweetness of birdsong.

Georg’ann

Entering the room I sense more than see his SHAPE, contorted as if his SPINE were made of something elastic. Neither of us SPOKE as we move toward the body.

Heather

The MEANS and wit ABOUT you, ’tis a moment to seize and APPLY yourself with vigor, tackling that which had ere felt nigh impossible.

Georg’ann

Spiders, Spanish moss, and mosquitoes inhabit warm MOIST places
Abundant dripping and creeping foliage,
Not BLEAK and chilled like the highlands
Where people speak in a languid DRAWL, LAUGH AFFLY
Rigid rules APPLY over
Crisp Linen and tea cakes
Broken and decayed beneath

Heather

It is the LEAST of my concerns – focusing ABOVE anything else on how I will get through the day. A decision about what I will (should?) wear – the MAUVE dress or the black suit – definitely feels like a trivial thing that I can WAIVE. The thought both releases me and tortures me: am I being NAIVE? Will the whole project collapse because I made a sartorial error?

Georg’ann

magenta LIGHT cast upward
Clothes the tree’s shapely trunk and lace like branches
Womanly form, statue of wood
Darkness in the immediate surround,
twinkling lights in the distance.
This one commands center stage sensual and dramatic

She invites me to dance, my own solid form responds
as SPINE undulates slightly

From here comes memory
Father making lunch
Daughter surreptitiously takes the KNIFE,
retreats to her room

Dichotomies of emotion
No option to be NAIVE
All present all the time
A universe within
Every element distinct
Nothing goes to the background, rapt attention
to too much

Heather

TOUGH days ahead, my friend. We may be feeling PEAKY, but we are WIRED to plow on despite our pain. The path is ICIER, perhaps even dicier. I find it harder to open up my INNER compass. Therefore, be careful what you INFER from my actions. I may be simply lost.

Georg’ann

The PAINT was NICER after the INKER applied the outlines that made the piece come to life. Before these markings were applied one could only INFER the artist’s intention.

Heather

“I am desperate for a HAVEN – do you think we COULD find one?” Sara spoke, lifting her head up. She had been bent over, morosely stirring her SOUPY mashed potatoes. I sighed. Sara folded over her plate again like a crumpled leaf. I decide to make another attempt at shifting her mood. “Sorry about that mess, Sara. I just couldn’t focus in the kitchen tonight. But come, sinking deeper into this melancholy won’t help. Let’s ROUST ourselves out of this torpor, put on our thinking caps and see what we can figure out.” Sara lifted her head, then her spoon, a tired and slightly twisted smile beginning to appear. “Okay… If I agree to JOUST with my demons,” taking a stab with her spoon as if it were a lance aimed at her opponent’s heart, “will you order a pizza? I am starving and these potatoes are really pathetic.”

Georg’ann

“To start each round the facilitator will sound the CHIME. At that time you must put down your QUART, whether or not you have finished your ale, pick up your lance and stand alert until the second chime, at which point you begin in earnest.
We look forward to watching you FLOUT your skills, the flourishes you add to your JOUST will be noted to enhance your score.
Let the games begin.”

Heather

A QUEST!
I LEAVE behind
AMORE, patria.
I search for new Love,
A new homeland.
Under dark skies
An AMBER moon,
My search begins.
I pray that my gains
Will temper my losses.

Georg’ann

Sitting in the well known place at the table, window to the left
Daylight pale coming through
Holding my coffee cup,
mine
only used by me
Only once a day
Only for creamy froth and bitter dark roast coffee

STEAM rises into the chilly kitchen air,
old house with drafts and microclimates throughout.
Not yet the heat from furnace, cooking, breath in conversation

Outside the last kale stock reminds me of a palm tree.
Tall, few leaves just at the top, crinkled deep purple green
All summer put into soups,
Nourish MAKER no longer
she is dying in the season
I most need her

Sunlight has risen higher now
Greeting the stained glass, casting AMBER and indigo
onto the warm brown cabinet.
Ambient sounds of the Tuesday trash trucks, voices in the alley.
Morning prayer comes to a close

Heather

TREAD carefully. You risk EXILE if stir up the enmity of the Queen. She strikes with deadly aim, her VENOM is powerful. Her anger must not be WOKEN – you are needed at court

Georg’ann

GUARD your heart lest it turn to STONE. Sweeten your cup with amber HONEY. Be in the company of WOMEN, those that cradle all of you, swaddled in care. Sleep deeply, no worries WOKEN.

Heather

We FEAST
You pass the APPLE
Is it of love?
Is it of discord?
I do not know.
Only one certain thing:
I AWOKE under your spell
I ADORE only you

Georg’ann

whispered question moves through dark QUIET
“Are you awake?”

The SHAPE of your tender
voice moved toward me
This is how I AWOKE

Join me here, wrapped in the warmth of covers and cuddles
You are the one I ADORE

Heather

Years of harvesting the WHEAT had deformed her SHAPE. Her hands showed evidence of endless CHAFE from the rough stalks.

Georg’ann

A SQUAT man with a full BEARD looked back and raised his hand in a final farewell as he boarded the PLANE. Something in his eyes and the quality of his gesture stayed with me, an IMAGE I couldn’t let go. It soothed the CHAFE of isolation I felt in the midst of all the comings and goings around me.

Heather

Taking her LEAST favorite hat down from the shelf, Lady Mary turned to her maid. “Do you think you can salvage this with some EGRET feathers? I have an EVENT tonight. I don’t suppose they will EJECT me for wearing last season’s style, especially if you can disguise somehow.”

Georg’ann

Sheep GRAZE, dotted
along the hillside
that OPENS to the sea
CHECK the box
ubiquitous scene seen
I wait to EJECT the image
Not yet certain whether
or not it belongs

Heather

She was PROUD of the FEAST before them. It had been hard to get everything down to the CABIN. It would have been so much harder without the help of her LANKY son: those long arms and legs made fast work of the task. Taking a last look around the space, she decided to accept the somewhat old-fashioned and MANLY air of the decor. The families and children would arrive soon enough, create the sweet chaos that she loved. Maybe some of the kids would like to hang paper chains on the antlers and noses of the assorted beastly heads on the wall? Shaking her head at such silly representations of masculinity, she pulled out the chair at her beloved desk, thinking to take a last look at some papers before the arguments began.

Georg’ann

There was a certain CHARM to the dark pub, a warmth among the regulars and extended to anyone just passing through. The sort of place where people called each other MATEY and at least one MANGY dog waiting outside. In almost every respect this was a MANLY sort of atmosphere in appearance though not in anyway inhospitable. Nothing crude or aggressive in the air. The Black Dog was for camaraderie, not picking fights or seeking sex.

Heather

I am looking for a certain PLACE by the SHORE, QUITE near my current home. A spot that entices, that will allow me to soak up the water and salt, where I can EXUDE peace and serenity without UNDUE effort.

Georg’ann

The COUNT and the QUEEN entered the small structure. It smelled of wood smoke and URINE but neither gave UNDUE notice as they sat down for tea.

Heather

“Move the FRAME a little bit to the right, would you?” Walking forward, Tina tilted her head this way and that, trying to assess the newest acquisition in her over-the-top art collection. “I want everyone who comes in this room to COVET, to positively swoon with desire, to… Oh I don’t know. Be eaten up with it I guess.” I snorted in response. “C’mon, T, that attitude will just make them run for the EXITS, slide on the TILED floor, spilling TEPID expensive coffee on their Valentinos and Jimmy Choos. Is that really what you want?”

Georg’ann

Before dawn, air crisp
Crows are up early, so loud
in the tree behind our neighbor’s garage
they caw and flap
unsettled and unsettling
too numerous to COUNT
Heading for the TRAIL
I choose a circuitous route
avoiding the inevitable
white droppings of black birds
Today’s trek is long, will birds wait for my return
Greet me on my way back, claiming the reward
lingering in a bath while hot water slowly grows TEPID

Heather

Such a peculiar dream I had! A pirate GHOST (to be known HENCE as “Cap’n HAIRY Harry”) threatening to make me walk the plank! Very HAPPY to be woken up by the sound of the newspaper delivery hitting the door.

Georg’ann

It was ROUGH going with pouring rain and gusty wind. Finally decided to pull over and get a CHEAP hotel. Better to wait it out safely. The room was actually not bad, and I was HAPPY to have a cup of tea in the bath.

Heather

I HOARD the THING that brings me joy, struggling to find the right PITCH that satisfies my childish anger and my commitment to the daily ritual. Feeling ITCHY and fidgety about it all, I yield and write.

Georg’ann

Just off the path, overlooking the lake, I HEARD an unusual sound coming from the THICK wilds of weeds, scraggly new trees, woodland shrubbery. It had an odd PITCH that set me searching for its source. Leaning in, as slow and still as possible but could find nothing. Kept moving ever so softly, pushing vines and branches to the side. It was only later, when my arms became intensely ITCHY, that I regretted not paying closer attention to the flora in my quest for the fauna.

Heather

I LEARN how at a young age, to not fear the dark, SEAMY side of meal prep. I am fearless as I reach into the carcass, pull out the offal, take on the tasks that are hidden but necessary. We will rejoice at the FEAST, and I am grateful to have a role to play, however much it is disdainful to others.

Georg’ann

A day to THANK
Despite its origin and
the over consumption
at best honors harvest,
making use of STALE bread
coming together to FEAST

Heather

“Grandpa always said, ‘You cannot achieve your DREAM without DRIVE.’ So let’s do this!” Flinging her backpack into the rear, Lucy slid in next to her honey. “C’mon. No one will realize the car is gone until we are way far away.”

Georg’ann

Preparation for a sacred FEAST,
pleasure or CHORE can be
PRIZE the texture
Our broken bread
Pulled apart
With loving fingers
Spread out to wait
Redemption without DRIVE

Heather

While she was a PLAIN Jane, she took the PRIZE at the county fair. Full of PRIDE, she pranced away waving her ribbon. That’ll teach ’em, she exclaimed, I am a PRIME beauty, not to be ignored!

Georg’ann

“What is that NOISE?” remarked Sam as he walked into the kitchen.
“Exiled Muskrats. Aren’t they fab?” Replied his exuberant youngest daughter.
“A band of trained muskrats? They ought to be exiled! They won’t win any PRIZE from me, my love.” He couldn’t help smiling at her with PRIDE as she laughed and tossed a cheese nip in his direction, feeling this was the PRIME of life.

Heather

If I PLEAD hard enough, will you reach up ABOVE and grab that jar from the top shelf? I am not feeling very BRAVE since I saw the spider in the cabinet.

Georg’ann

On a blustery late November night, it’s nice to get cozy and watch a MOVIE or read a good book. Seasonal SALVE for a certain kind of disquiet. Hard to BRAVE the cold, dark wind to meet with friends. Unless they are close ones that let you arrive in pajamas and offer you a blanket and cup of hot cocoa.

Heather