Cathedral Area Arts Festival

Sun warm

  light warm breezes 

   music filtered through the air

    vocalists, bag pipes and dancing

Walking, talking crowds filled

    13th Ave and two side streets 

     strolling past tented kiosks

      in front of open shops

All ages and manner of dress

 Loose flowing pants or skirts

  Shorts, big floppy hats

   Strollers with tots, sleeping or curious

   one or two dogs on leash and well mannered.

My only purchases: food.

  First stop - a chicken taco

    Second stop - a spring roll

      Third stop - scuffles, 

chocolate puffed wheat square, 

  and one cinnamon bun

    Last stop: a loaf of raisin sourdough bread

My other interests:

  Pottery  

   Jewellery

Nothing forced money from my wallet!

I walked about half of the entire length of 13th Ave 

  only one short foray into one of the side streets.

Time for home!

“We were a train full of strangers, and they were all the same.”

~ Cherie Priest, Dreadnought

Delicate Hope

Branches grey and bare

Is there no life?

bright pink amid green, 

~ tiny pink flowers

opening for spring

gathers nourishment

before unfurling 

delicate beauty.

“Where flowers bloom, so does hope.”

~ Lady Bird Johnson

Silent Tears

 

After a thunderstorm 

rain leaves behind only 

the steady beat of 

drip, drip from the eaves

When a heart breaks

sadness slips over eyelids

in silence.

“It is such a secret place, the land of tears.”

~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery, writer

(1900 - 1944)

24 Hours

You don’t need to run away

You don’t need to cry

Clouds will do that for you

 Their tears trickle down in 

a fine mist or

       full fat drops

Wind blows them away

  Pushes them onto the next 

prairie or woodland

       mountains or out to sea

the sun is allowed to shine

in skies clear and blue

or velvet black with

        star shine and crescent moon

You don’t need to run away.

You don’t need to cry.

“My courage does not depend on the weather.”

~ Mary Anne Radmacher, author

In the Drift

Here I am 

on a blank page 

wondering 

which words go together 

too many words come at me 

all at once 

not blocked 

merely too many good ideas 

or were they really good?

or just a disparate word 

scribbled on the page with 

the oomph knocked out of it,

maybe even the why of it vanished.

“The clouds don’t overthink; they just drift.”

~ Avijeet Das, poet and writer

Thinner than Gauze

Did I write them down

   words that blink

 in phrases 

in ideas 

    from nowhere 

  and everywhere

Disconnected

  little stems 

   for story, 

     essay or

       poetry.

       

     ~~~~~

Little notebooks 

on table and desk, 

 filled with notes

  wise words

directions ~ how to shape ideas

  notes to self 

a grocery list for apples and oranges

 bills to pay

  phone numbers

    dates from messages

Not as cluttered as my thoughts

  ~ but close

At least notebooks are solid

  ~ thoughts are thinner than the finest gauze.

“Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come 

unsought for are are commonly the most valuable.”

~ Francis Bacon

(1561~1626)

How Could I Not

May 30, 2024

How could I not get up and out

after all it’s not 30 below, 

I have a beautiful pink umbrella

and a green rain jacket 

but that may not be necessary 

because snow is falling ~

melting before it hits the ground 

sifting thro' waving green leaves

flat grey skies hover over the evening.

How could I not get up and out?!

“There should be a rule against your own inner monologue 

throwing around that much sarcasm.”

~ Jim Butcher,  Ghost Story