Time at Home
this home project resulted
in too much time staring
at the four walls
painted the stairwell “juniper”
hung works of art
and family photos
hiring it done was exhausting
I’m calling it the “corona gallery”
this home project resulted
in too much time staring
at the four walls
painted the stairwell “juniper”
hung works of art
and family photos
hiring it done was exhausting
I’m calling it the “corona gallery”
Where do you go when your eyes change?
Most likely I’ll never know, but
I hope you do
If not for your sake
Then for whoever is next
In line. Ha!
Like I give a damn about them
It’s heartbreaking and nerve-wracking
In equal measure
To see a stranger where you just laid
Peering back at me like your cat
Sizes up a pigeon on the other side
Of the glass
That’s not fair, I know
If it weren’t this it would be
Something else
A creaky floorboard that I must step on
I can’t live in apartments anymore
The neighbors are far too loud
All of them
I will find the jagged rock
To rest my head on
To produce the crick in my neck
Needed to write angsty words
Like these
It’s all I know
at being alone, loved
solitude’s private refreshment.
Now, all of us alone, together,
slip into each other’s cocoons
on Zoom and Skype, FaceTime,
Facebook Live, our spaces
no longer singular and unseen,
compete for who is doing isolation best,
who’s most content, whose
flowers bloom the most, who
takes the greatest photographs
of the most golden
sourdough bread, whose dog
evokes the sharpest mix
of loyalty and pathos or cat
epitomizes cat, who has built
the most ingenious outdoor space,
best backdrop from which to maintain
our incessant unrelenting
connectedness, the genuine
expression of human lack
of boundaries,
this enforced separation
has laid bare
We had many comings and goings at 2938.
The time 5 year old Ricky jumped naked from the tub
to see who rang the bell and met Barbara
our teenaged older brother’s heartthrob.
The time Keith rang the bell to tell Mama
that 12 year old Ricky lay on the road
where a car threw him 10 feet in the air.
The time the milkman stopped mid whistle
as he saw the coon curled by the
milk box hesitating to deliver our milk and eggs.
The time the police brought our older soldier
brothers home drunk from partying their
reunion after ‘Nam.
The time Fritz got loose
but came running back with his eye
popped out as we rushed him to the vet.
The time I tried to talk my Man to Do It
on that porch late at night
after too much booze but he chickened out.
Thank God!
The time you cooked a culinary delight
to introduce our folks 5 months before
we tied the knot.
The time we brought baby Heather
home to be baptized at the church
where we wed.
The time I moved in with our 3 month old
and 2 year old while you began a new job
out of state till you found us a place.
That was the last time we crossed
that porch…Mom and Dad moved
on to Florida and a new chapter.
I
Am a hawk
Sharp eye
Sharp beak
At business
But when I get home
The feathers come off
And I scrub myself pink
A nervous,
Frightened little bird.
We sit with a bucket of beans between us,
You on your wooden stool and me on my concrete step.
I watch your practiced hands pinch off ends and pull the string without breaking it.
You snap a few and toss them in the bowl then pass me one with a dark spot.
It is I who have been trusted to hold the knife this time.
With ease, I nick the imperfection and drop it to join its brothers.
We reminisce about silver queen corn, white half-runners, eating more strawberries than we brought in for the pie and a cucumber as big as my five-year old arm.
We must speak of long agos because last week is a mystery to you.
I notice the sun reflecting on your ivory hair and highlighting the white strands in my own.
I wonder when I grew up, and you grew old, and I became the one who could be trusted to hold the knife.
He doesn’t socialize on Fridays,
It took us 5 years to get engaged,
We waivered on children until it was almost too late,
He offered to take time off this week but I declined,
Therapists sometimes experience empathy fatigue, you know,
Her powerpoint convinced him about the dog,
I am not one for routines,
Every now and then I drink too much and dance all night,
He does not believe in soulmates,
He emptied my four drains every few hours faithfully for two weeks,
Every relationship serves a purpose,
He would be sad if I died of course, but he would survive,
He has shown me a multitude of graces,
She takes after me which compounds things of course,
He has reminders for various filter changes set monthly in his phone calendar,
I keep him on his toes,
He keeps my heels dug in,
He proposed in a botanical garden,
That is also a graveyard.
(after Colleen Chesebro)
feel the energies of the earth swirl
gasp in surprise when the universe plays
beautiful music: it’s time to dance
when life presents joyful news, celebrate
as a drop in the ocean of blessings
as a drop in the ocean of blessings
feel the energies of the earth swirl
gasp in surprise when the universe plays
beautiful music: it’s time to dance
when life presents joyful news, celebrate
when life presents joyful news, celebrate
as a drop in the ocean of blessings
feel the energies of the earth swirl
gasp in surprise when the universe plays
beautiful music: it’s time to dance
beautiful music: it’s time to dance
when life presents joyful news, celebrate
as a drop in the ocean of blessings
feel the energies of the earth swirl
gasp in surprise when the universe plays
gasp in surprise when the universe plays
beautiful music: it’s time to dance
when life presents joyful news, celebrate
as a drop in the ocean of blessings
feel the energies of the earth swirl
https://colleenchesebro.com/2020/06/05/fairy-tarot-friday-june-5-2020/
1 Home Haircut Kit for Dummies
7 Washable Summer-Weight Masks (Fogless Variety)
1 box (30-count) of Anti-Itch Pads for Eyes, Nose and Mouth (Coupon Loaded)
1 Home Recycler for Kroger Plastic Bags
4th of July Sparklers (10-Pack) with Durable Flashes of Love and Tolerance
1 large vacuum-packed sack of Perfectly Predictable Days (No Substitutions)
1 bottle (1 gallon) Gorilla Glue for Cracks in Sanity
1 large bag of Gift-Wrapped Hugs
2 Pre-Paid Cards for 7 Zoom-Free Days each
1 can of News (16 oz.) Comment: I will decide whether to open or not
Items Ordered: 10
Comments: Please package in a box large enough for me and my cat to escape to between orders
I look back
Over my poems
and think
If I changed this
wouldn’t thata sound better
If I moved that
wouldn’t ita looked better
Sometimes I’m guilty
Of getting caught in the rush
Instead of scouring
Through tiny details
I could obsess over
And I do
Sometimes
But when those words flow
Smoothing rough stone
Delivering life
To mental drought
…
What a rush
To write in the moment
