songs from this album: Madman Across the Water by Elton John, 1971
these books: Back When We Were Grownups by Anne Tyler, 2001
and Death in Kashmir by M. M. Kaye, 1984
home made sourdough crackers
beautiful geraniums and wilting petunias
anxiety and
gratitude
and a sense of being lost within the walls of a deep dream
at 5:30 am: the blue light of dawn, strong coffee and vanessa’s gaze
kicking leaves on walks
berry pies
Gene Autry
this book: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty
young bucks eating pumpkins
gathering greens from the fields
a healing pup
balsam candles
sometimes the details of life make it hard to breathe,
make it so that my heart feels squeezed and i tell myself to keep it together–
often i feel foolish because it isn’t over heroic acts or poetic words
it isn’t intense emotions over politics or rhetoric or what’s right or what’s wrong with the world–
it’s about a robin eating berries in the snow (why didn’t he migrate?)
and a detail in the railing that made me look twice,
it’s when a man holds his wife’s hand gently and absentmindedly caresses her arm,
it’s the 1968 photo where faces beam with hope and happiness,
and how his goodbye was a little hurried, like ripping off a band-aid and shaking off the sting
i like blurry photos
and off-kilter horizons
i like old things and broken things
and abandoned places
i like pack bites from big dogs
and razor teeth on puppies
i like to see vultures in the fields
and crows in the sky
i like the smell of cloves burning
and the hissing sound of tabacco in a pipe
“How can you like that?”
is a sentence i’ve heard many a time–
and always, i like to hear it
day dreams
opportunities
sweet secrets
warm homes
good friends
lemon cakes
and cinnamon rolls
red wine
and hot coffee
the sun kissing the edges of leaves
walks along the river
this book, Hold Still by Sally Mann
the smell of peony and rose
Johnny Cash singing, Daddy Sang Bass
the Laurel Highlands on a cool, fall morning
old bottles
wishes
tea cups
and
words
creamers
marbles
and
thoughts
insects that look like green leaves
dreams that hang about like languid strings
soap that smell like sweet roses
laughter that soars like paper airplanes
strawberries every day
outside dinners and glasses of wine
summer rain, again and again
long evening walks, admiring lush gardens
the sweetest little ice cream truck
