POEM 07 We all are hoping with eyes closed and whispered prayers, to get back to Normal. This strange, misshapen existence doesn’t fit. It pinches like new shoes and kills us. It takes away our breath and nobody knows from where it sprang. We refuse…

I once believed I was timeless- That I would last forever in people’s memories Simply because they claimed to find me memorable.   I am no longer sure if that’s true. If I were to kill myself, I think the rage might consume my loved…

Garden of Long Island “Flowers take many forms. Each takes a story,  each entirely precious and unique. Each is the best,  each will teach us to love, nurture, and let go. Not every garden blooms. Tears take place of rain.  They surface on the air.” …

who sets the standard for normal as a child your parents it is not normal: to hate peas to wear your hair like that to  like be alone to like girls instead of boys   in college your peers determine it is normal to be…

Moving through the sea On a teakettle of foam. We danced and sang, embracing our plight. I love you I love me I love us   Even as we whittle away the time left With the marks of our heels And the strikes of our…

In the National Puzzlers’ League, Merriam-Webster is the publisher of two of our standard references. They have a lot to say online about the many shades of meaning of “normal.” Here are a few that caught my eye: The normal spelling rule is “i before…

Living in other people’s minds comparing shaming shifting blame competing we were never accepted to be ourselves we manuevered through bad energy in rooms of aunts and uncles that possibly cringed at the length of our hair outside of our own cublicle each unit was…

We and the world are changing daily so that the notion of stability or the usual seems an absurd construct of a needy, anxious species. Our cells are constantly coming and going at different rates, and at different ages defying a simple equation to describe…

new normal weather heat waves, intense storms, floods, droughts not normal at all

Just another day in paradise they said Until shouting started and headlines read Pandemic, Emergency Measures, Many Dead Oh! How did this happen? What do we do? A Global tragedy, nothing but dread! The wise old man looked around at his kin and One by…