yes, I have been remiss!

Posting poetry (or otherwise) has not happened much lately.

I did write a poem per day through the 16th or so but my get up and write rode away with a handsome cowboy. Or something like that.

Actually, I've been working, singing, doing the church choir director thing (Sundays plus 2 funerals).

Two events of note:

December 7th at 7:30pm the Virginia Benefit Chorale will sing at Grace Episcopal Church in Goochland to benefit the Goochland Food Pantry and the Christmas Mother. It's a free concert but we ask you to bring canned food and/or consider making a donation to the program. ALL money raised will go directly to this important cause that has been taken on at Grace Church.

As I type this, I am listening to the CD from our first concert last week at St Luke's Lutheran on Southside- it is AMAZING- and not just because I sing 2nd soprano). We open with an arrangement of "Steal Away" by local organist Mike Simpson, then go to Rachmaninoff, Brahms, Poulenc, and so many other songs. Did I mention we sing a cappella??

The other event is a poetry reading at art 6 Gallery on December 10th at 7:30. $5. Put it on your calendar, I'll 'splain more later!!

Poem a day November 9th

If you slow down



the stars stay longer,
the alarm doesn’t startle,
the milk won’t scald,
the toast can’t burn

because you’re right there
to see the sky lighten,
to slap the snooze alarm,
to turn the burner down,
to rescue breakfast,


then make some scrambled eggs,
watch the cardinals sing,
listen to Joni Mitchell,
sip your hot chocolate,
find the plum preserves,


before the world grabs you
and throws you to the wolves,
and jams up the interstate,
and fills your mail with bills,
and keeps you late at work,

stealing the day in high velocity.

November poem a day for the 8th

Ask Alice



She’s always saying yes when she wants
to say no, doesn’t seem right how folks
take advantage of her good nature, does it?

Then she’ll turn right around and Big Fat No
something that seems interesting, like a party
or dinner at a fancy place she’d never go alone.

Been known to say no to food when she’s hungry,
squeeze her legs tight in the car too prim to answer
in the affirmative to “Anybody need to stop?”

Hard-wired to do for others, deny herself,
she comes from a long line of giving women,
the kind that believes it’s what has to be done,


after all, it’s biblical, right? Dutiful wives,
loving mothers, must learn to abide, sit tight,
give in, walk the extra mile for everybody else.

The ease of Yes, the discomfort of No
needs to be switched around, rethought
before she wears herself out with loving.

Prob’ly have to piss off a few folks, before
the new rules set themselves in stone,
likely have to cry behind the steering wheel

when they play the guilt card, she mustn’t cave.
Truth be trotted out- she never did ‘em a favor
always pulling the wagon without any help.

She’s gonna give it a good No next time,
save the Really Big YES for what she wants.
Maybe dogs and Alice can turn a trick around.

November poem-a-day here's November 7th

Bamboozled, and on a Sunday

There are always biddies and busybodies
in a congregation - acting as spies for the devil.
It’s celestial intelligence, meddling minions
to insure the message is muddled, called out

before the match catches, Lacryma Christi!
The witnesses stand silent,mouths agape.
The end is nigh, and always has been,
(truth be told we never had a say at all).

You, Lucy? And Ethyl, long suffering,
the same sprinkled dirt now covers both of you.
Those expecting more will be sorely disappointed,
while the rest of us suspected nothing all along.

it's First Friday (again)!

and there is sculpture at art6-

and first novels at VCU- (that's Thursday)

and poetry at Chop Suey

and I'm writing a poem-a-day (so far without inspiration)

and it's a dark and dreary day (which I love, actually)

and I'm about to cook stuffed cabbage (with lamb and pine nuts)

life is good!