love
A Fresh Look
twenty-five years back
he asked me to marry him
so began our lives
The Scrapping-Together-Book
so different from your sister's when i spent many joyful hours piecing together the photos of her youth your youth is marred, robbed, broken and i don't know why i don't know why and it might be the not knowing that will take us both
Girls’ Weekend
post-pandemic flight
the first for me; with my girls
to steal a weekend
beautiful DC:
the center of our country,
sordid past exposed
a bar mitzvah morn
in year five-seven-eight-three
from our first beliefs
a city forest
walking distance from temple
Shabbat salom. Peace.
my happy daughters
finding books, happiness, love
on our girls’ weekend
Road Trip 2022, Day Eleven: Cades Cove
a magical place:
the only way to describe
these teenage smiles
even pup loves it
cycling past wildlife
below the Smokies
where can you see bears
and collect salamanders
under the same sun?
this mountain-framed pic
taken on the same soil
twenty-three years past
we’re fatter, older
while the mountains are hotter;
such is life—sad changes
yet look at our girls
fearlessly taking this on
one moon-wing a time
Road Trip 2022, Day Eleven: Cades Cove
a magical place:
the only way to describe
these teenage smiles
even pup loves it
cycling past wildlife
below the Smokies
where can you see bears
and collect salamanders
under the same sun?
this mountain-framed pic
taken on the same soil
twenty-three years past
we’re fatter, older
while the mountains are hotter;
such is life—sad changes
yet look at our girls
fearlessly taking this on
one moon-wing a time
Road Trip 2022, Day Ten: Gaps
through Cumberland Gap
we drive down to Tennessee
and stand in three states
it’s been many years
(the gap between visits here)
and everything’s changed
Pappy’s room is new
with the antique furniture
from their grandparents
a whole new kitchen
to fill Donna’s empty nest
with the light of love
this generation
will take the time to teach them
and fill in the gaps
they’ll learn who came first,
what they fought for, what they lost;
close gaps, open eyes
Road Trip 2022, Day Six: Sincerely Cincinnati
i can’t capture this:
the words, the joy, the city
it’s all in this swing
i can’t capture them
filled with adolescent angst
yet so forgiving
a summer road trip
(there’s not without one)
they live it, breathe it
i can’t capture stress
it won’t fit in this market
nor on this road home
Road Trip 2022, Day Five: Tree Heaven
the sound of leaf breeze
is impossible to miss
from the top? perfect
there’s just nothing like
five giddy little-teen girls
breathing us all in
our poor Daddy
outnumbered seven to one
without one complaint
Road Trip 2022, Day Four: ArtTREEsans
handmade arts and crafts
working their way through college
the way it should be
artisans, trees:
intertwine their native souls
to make Earth special
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