
Reach me down my Tycho Brahe, I would know him when we meet,
When I share my later science, sitting humbly at his feet;
He may know the law of all things, yet be ignorant of how
We are working to completion, working on from then to now.

Reach me down my Tycho Brahe, I would know him when we meet,
When I share my later science, sitting humbly at his feet;
He may know the law of all things, yet be ignorant of how
We are working to completion, working on from then to now.

The next time you see a homeless person on the streets remember me, please. As vulnerable as I come across writing about the time when we were houseless, they all feel the same way. Everybody has a story. Now, let’s continue mine.

I killed a spider
Not a murderous brown recluse
Nor even a black widow
And if the truth were told this
Was only a small
Sort of papery spider
Who should have run
When I picked up the book
But she didn’t
And she scared me
And I smashed her

People always tell me, “Don’t put the cart
before the horse,” which is curious
because I don’t have a horse.
Is this some new advancement in public shaming—
repeatedly drawing one’s attention
to that which one is currently not, and never
has been, in possession of?

“For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair, let a child run his fingers through it once a day.
For poise, walk with the knowledge you’ll never walk alone.

My husband got up early today. I overslept a bit, opened my eyes slowly. It was cold in the bedroom, still dark outside. I sat up and turned on the news. My daily routine. I leave the TV on until I go downstairs. My daily dose of negativity, served in the morning ice-cold, to get it over with.

As I get used to my “New Normal,” I cannot help but realize how much I have taken for granted in my life. The hug from a friend, dinner with my best friends and their families, walking next to a stranger in the grocery store while mindlessly looking at items on the shelves, toilet paper.

You are so kind, she said and I am not.
I am rude and crude, rough at times and too outspoken.
Sarcastic and cynical, brutal sometimes if only with words.

About 5 am you can hear John shoveling his driveway. He has been waiting for the first decent snowfall, this is his favorite time of the year. He is a two-time veteran -army and navy- and if he could have done it, he would have enlisted a third time but he was too old to do so.