Beneath   Upon the endless careening of thoughts whirlpooling into my bed, finding a drain at the center of the sheets and pouring into the floorboards that buckle under this weight. Tell me where your thoughts go at night if not beneath the bed beside…

Like pressed flowers on the page Transparent and delicate My rage, a fragile needle, Surrounded by the blossomed sorrow That lead to a pointed attack. It’s beautiful and useless and all I can do is seethe A despairing azure blossom

Betrayal so deep soul wrenching pain, soul tearing, soul twisting, won’t stop. Dreams are lost, dreams are destroyed, hope ignited, hope flamed. Hope smothered, joke is on me again. Life ended thanks to you.

I awake to find a ghost in view And jump when it looks at me A familiar face forms One I have forgotten It has been so long I am teary My heart smiles My world Dad

The words got stuck in my head today But I have let them out to play Fear can hold me in it’s grip and take my thoughts away I knew this would hurt What could I do live in fear? No I can’t

an eye in one language is an ear in another Skyscrapers seen through binoculars transform into the cloud of sounds of people working, of machines clicking The storefront no longer a waiting space in rainy days, instead waves of footsteps drown the entrance Big black…

Delicate flower petals now folded and bent weathered but wise.   Ingrid Exner, Poetry Half Marathon 2021

photo credit – Alexander Ant Four blue-dyed petals pressed to the wall With its tiny flowering tail Held together in strong twists Adding style and beauty Such colorful sign With same symbol Oval ends It’s yours Love.

Chipmunk nonet ~   Today I watched a chipmunk savage my sunflower seedlings, digging with furious claws at the seedling pots snuffling up an errant seed like cocaine. No wonder no sunflowers ever sprouted! Instead, one chipmunk grows sleeker emboldened and sunflower fed. I watch…

There are so many miles between us Yet I can look at the night sky And know you can see it too The same stars as I do Despite the distance It brings us close I feel your Presence Near.