Musings
Harvesting Hope
We are planting seeds of loving kindness
Harvesting hope and sending it your way
Imagining world peace and happiness
Our vision for keeping sorrow at bay
*
Sit in quiet, expand your awareness
Notice beauty wherever it can be found
Spread goodwill, equality and fairness
Voices raised for justice make a joyful sound
*
Act in community to bring about change
Give your time and talent to just causes
Local efforts bring dreams within our range
Generous compassion without pauses
*
We hope that this sonnet brings you good cheer
And all of the best for the coming year
December 2023
Low Spark of High Heeled Boys
Piano music fades in.
Each note resonates, lining pathways,
traveling through time.
Just a few chords,
I can almost smell the sweet smoke.
I am back in my childhood bedroom.
No longer a child, not yet an adult.
Phosphorescent flowers glow in darkness.
Psychedelic songs
Feeling the vibe
Taking risks, flying high.
Just doors away from my mother’s pain.
She in her drug filled dreams, me in mine.
Rock bands gamble with speedball injections
Doctors prescribe moms demerol
Cocooned
heavy headphone haze
On the precipice of awareness
April 2024
Pledging Allegiance
Hand to heart
For soldiers and patriots marching down streets
across battlefields
powered by high ideals
Follow unraveling threads on heroes blue coats
Pages missing from red white and blue schoolbooks
Listen to true ancestral stories
Unravel stolen flags
flying high over ancient burial grounds
Crumbling foundations
Fading lines
delineating boundaries once clearly drawn
Hand to heart
Conquerors, conquered, enslaved
Living their lives
Side by side
Holding on to dreams
Envisioning
freedom and justice for all
July 2023
- Artist, Joy Nelkin Wieder
Vineyard Musings (The most perfect day ever)
Early in the morning
I am bundled in a quilted jacket
Seated on a balcony
Facing the sea
Today is the most perfect day ever
Gentle breezes carry birdsong
Seaside cottages glow under light filled clouds
A sleepy household awakens
Today is the most perfect day ever
Dew soaked leaves
Dry In the morning sun
Their still wet tips sparkle
Today is the most perfect day ever
A whistling teapot
Startles me out of my reverie
Whatever it holds
today is the most perfect day ever
A bench sits on a hilltop In Martha’s Vineyard
overlooking a glorious seascape
The simple plaque states
“Today is the most perfect day ever”
October 2023
Hourglass
Waves traveling with the moon
whisk tiny grains of sand
from infinite beaches
out to endless seas.
Horizons stretch beyond view.
Bubbling air
rises from the depths
Sinking particles
nestled among the coral.
Motionless, absorbed .
Days, years, moments .
Another beach
small hands fill pails.
Ephemeral castles
carried away on foaming horses
ride the ebb tide.
January 2024
Jete´
Firelight in shadow,
Flickering, flaring
round and round and round,
Spinning golden threads of light
Joyous exultation
Ascension
White flash
Crackling energy
caught mid air
above a plain wooden stage
in a majestic theater
All eyes gaze upward
Excited children in their best clothes
throat clearers
bravo yellers
whisperers
Silent
Gilded hall
holding one collective breath
Thunderous applause resounds
filling cavernous ceilings
April 2024
Westport
Glistening ground in a woodland camp
reminds me of my grandparents’ house
Hallowed earth, once again
Memories of mining for mica
dry my mother’s tears
Pop, crackle
Car wheels
hitting the clean white stones on a circular driveway
Carefully tended flowers
burst with color, in greeting
Mica calls to us before our feet even touch the ground
Excavating for the shiniest prizes
with our hands or one of the ubiquitous twigs
Our favorite spot is safe from poisonous vines
Protected
by my grandmother’s immunity
Cousin Annie
my partner and my compatriot
in the struggle to be seen by our older siblings
Called into the house by the dinner bell
(or maybe just wanting it to be used for that purpose)
Greeted by the smell of fresh baked strawberry shortcake
Magic remembrances of a cozy country house
fireplaces blazing
and wood paneled walls
For a time,
holding us all together
June 2022
Light
Gray clouds, heavy with rain
sit on the horizon
Raindrops shimmer, reflecting
slivers of light in the puddles
Powerful waves pound against the shore
Blue skies, just a strong gust of wind away
bring light
into darkness
Breathe through the storm
Delight in the raindrops
sparkle in the sunlight
Every drop of rain, every ray of sunshine
its own miracle
March 2023
Barefoot Boy
Amidst late fall’s
faded browns, dull grays
Amidst scrub pines
spindly phragmites
seasonal detritus
sits a bright blue sandal
encrusted with sand
atop a low, flat rock
Dropped, somewhere else
prominently placed
Found but not retrieved
Warm summer days
spent building vanishing castles
on tidal shores
Overflowing beach bag
Tired toddler, lifted gently
Maternal shoulder cradling
sweetly sleeping babe
worn out by waves
One blue shoe unpacked
Exasperated Mom
searching for its mate
Barefoot boy
February 2024
Three of Cups
Climbing, our breath sets a ponderous pace.
Three friends trek up a steep mountain pathway.
Charred, leafless trees proudly reach for the sky.
Standing in the stillness singing, we live.
Snowcapped mountains hover in the distance.
Wildflowers creep along the rock strewn path,
peeking through singed land, hope grows with them.
Three moose grazing on a hillside meadow .
startled by our delighted reverie.
They lead a charge, convincing us to go.
Two trios make a lasting memory.
September 2024
Ayres BnB (Or Cape Cod Lament)
I hear car doors slamming,
our next guests have arrived.
Hope our smiles are not damning
or our joyful welcomes contrived.
So much for careful planning,
not the summer for which we strived.
Despite the pace, we’re still standing
and all our friendships thrived.
Each year we keep expanding
our repertoire of sites.
Whales, seals, hiking and tanning
and let’s not forget our bikes.
Another season of cramming
too much into our lives.
Late night talks are jammin(g),
precious moments, special vibes.
So hard to be demanding.
Who will be denied?
Next year we’ll try better handling
so our goodwill can survive.
September 2024