perception – not reality

haiku

fog splatters sunrise

droplets of tinted water

man perceives as sky

                               

soften the blow

when blow is softened

and time given to absorb

hope for recovery

end of what was

years ago, i sighed to climb

onto my new mattress

re-living the loss

knowing i  no longer slept

on the same bed i’d shared with him

who had been the center of my world

a dozen years i’d lived without him

until i needed to give up the home

in the hills he’d built for me

where we’d shared, in awe, sunrises

snowy mountain Cascade peaks

and visits by wild animals and birds

who’d grown accustomed to our intrusion into their natural grounds

too benumbed by the downsizing

of decades of gatherings

to miss what had been stuff of our lives

until the final item was itemized

for the estate sale with proceeds

to go to our church

as i lock the door on the estate goods

i stagger, empty, gutted

and drive to the cemetery to talk

but i cannot talk with my Earl

only look back up the hill to the home

which is no longer ours

and weep

and then, knowing he is in my heart,

wherever i choose to go to die,

i am at peace

fractured skyline

haiku

cerulean cloud

slit, shattered by star-fire

insistent glow-gold

cannot, but can

i could not take on her cancer

but i could be with her for tests

and treatments and have her

with me for times of recovery

i cannot heal our society’s lack

of faith, courage to face the truth

or refusal to take responsibility

for the care of others

but i can be there to support

and encourage my friends

and love my family with all of me

however inadequate for the enormity

of the task, knowing that i

am not alone in caring

                                          

distorted interplay

play of reality seen

through reflection on glass window

our minds have learned

to differentiate

but not always

at times the image seems reality

as when the power of words

distort our actions

under the influence

of marketing, disinformation

propaganda

winter 25-26

haiku

chill but not cold here

while southern states see winter

in its white glory

gray at four

haiku

gray fog dense at four

dissolving by six lends hope

of bright-hued sunrise

Missouri sky in Oregon

Missouri sky in Oregon

today the blue-purple-gray clouds

actually drop rain, as their appearance

had hinted to a Midwesterner

that they might

whispered sunrise

whispered sunrise

mauve and burnt-orange

muffled by mist

gratitude

looking over the stutters and chaos

i have created over the last

eighteen months, i realize

i have been less mentally sharp

than perhaps at any other time

in my life

and realize, as well, the tremendous

loving support given by my family

that kept me going as well as i could