Catching Up

 I've not written a blog post for several weeks. At first it was because I was so gosh-darn busy. But then my grandson's health emergency called me to drive down to Asheville to be of support. I have not done a road trip for years. Both my daughters emphatically told me it was not safe for someone as old as I am to go on a long car trip by myself. And I more or less agreed. It is true that as you age, many things get less sharp: hearing, reactions, thinking. But this seemed really important so I suddenly decided to drive south and started the next morning. By the time I got to Asheville, three days later (!), I was inclined to agree that my daughters had been right. But I made it! So that's where I am, hoping to be a helpful, supportive presence to my daughter's family as they try to find answers and healing.

I don't have much to write about, nothing particularly enlightening. But the week before I left Iowa, I wrote four "cinquaines" for my poetry group, and I realized I could use them as a stop-gap measure for the blog until I get back. A cinquaine is a 5 line poem, with a certain number of syllables to each line: 2,4,6,8,2. It's a nice structure to help you write something. Often the night before my poetry group meeting on Wednesday mornings, I will set myself the task of writing a poem. This particular night, I couldn't think of anything. So I started by writing two syllables (one or two words) for the first line, and then see what came to me. The following cinquaines aren't particularly great, but they're a good example of how poetry emerges once you write a little bit, and follow the framework:

Drum beats

Stirring our feet,

Music engulfing us,

Bodies together in motion.

Rhythm.

Kitties,

Soft and cuddly.

They can be beguiling

Until they unearth your treasures.

Take care!

Quiet

A chance to Be

Pushing roots down and deep

Expanding outward and inward.

Peace.

Water

Freshens us all

Each life depends on it.

Raindrops are flowing toward rivers.

Deep wet.