San Diego

Shivering at the
airport. Colder than O’Hare.
Turn back, refund flight.

Driving cross country

West Coast starting line
pavement our road map we head
east back to our roots.

Friendship

Despite my darkest
moods you reach out, take my hand,
and lead me toward hope.

Depression

Bright summer days no
friend to sadness. Solace lies
in winter’s dark chill.

On cutting off long hair

Strands layered, length chopped,
I change, shed years, fears, regrets.
Why’d I wait so long?

Sufficient

Some days it’s enough:
an absent child’s return, a
dog’s rapt love, a kiss.

Nostalgia

She cried at the film’s
end, remembering how much
she’d once loved the book.

Afterwards

We discuss the soul,
ponder death’s postlude, then choose
the happy ending.

Upon reading the work of a great writer

Breathless, punched in the
gut seeing language evolve,
my own words falter.

Mortality

That first brush with death
shook loose her confident grasp
of all she held dear.