April is Poetry Month # 6

because my little pony tempered the earth what's the face of this broken heart, its dreary, melting face. hey, ma, you look sad, hey, ma, you should try friendship love, and generosity. what's the face of a mother erased sad eyes sad sad mouth a thinning line the mirror always casting up another mother and another better versions than this. what's the disposition of this broken heart? it is poised for the polar express it is making way for the ducklings…

April is Poetry Month #5

These Rivers Endlessly Endlessly Then I will swim the dreaming of my house, the well-mannered happenings of my house, the slip noose hanging from the frame of my house I will dream the bright waters of my house gathering in the broken heart of my house. For it will be the bear-claw quilt that I wrap him in, the last fold-over-fold, the last coverings of the broken bird its musical note no more. How to bury his golden head? How to…

April is Poetry Month #4

because not even god I have put together the ankle to the hand pulled the body down into the arch of the foot secured the instep to the baby’s nose look, ma— it’s an inverted swing set it’s a solid acre of monkey bars drowning in drinking fountains, yellow tubes spewing out children...they are perfect hockey pucks each one alike alike alike unto normal. Oh my tripped-up fumbling son, rise up, you are young again you are passing strange how always…

April is Poetry Month #3

and for his head a sapphire crown They took him up in a net of jewels. Like a chandelier rising to the ceiling they incrusted him with light and lifted his body to heaven. this is the time, they sang, this is the appointed hour and a silver wand reached down and made of him a gossamer thing, a diaphanous boy skating on the glassy sea, his molten heart hot and furious, drumming up the choir with hallelujahs.

April is Poetry Month # 2

verses composed outside Nineveh under a fig tree wither the tree, the stubborn root choking the heart. blister us with the noonday sun we will not yield we will not go into the city. we will not god, we will not the promise of angels. we teeter on the head of the pin-- the windmill arms, the whoa! whoa! whoa! the long way down.

skillful means

It's Monday morning. James has his heart cath tomorrow morning. Am I nervous? I think so. Highly irritable? Yes. Grumpy? Probably. I always thought these were symptoms of hypomania, and perhaps they are. But now that I'm in the DBT program, I realize they are also related to how I am treating myself overall. Not just too little sleep/poor diet/no exercise. No, it's more than this. There is mindfulness. Moving from moment to moment engaged. And there are skillful means. Using…

engaged but not determined

Today I did The Daily Calm and The Daily Move. This is my second day with no sugar. Well, the beginning of it. I feel better, not physically; it will take time for me to notice body changes. No, I feel better because I am not plagued with the thoughts of it. Enough said on that. Today I have my individual counseling session. I look forward to it. Yesterday I took the DBT book apart. It was the only way I…

migraine/clothes/dbt

Yesterday was an all-day migraine day. A day in the dark. A day spent alone. But staying in the dark, and taking medication, drives the headache away enough that I can function. In the dark. Alone. In my chair. (moving around too much causes nausea) But I did get work done~ I built out my capsule wardrobe (see the clothes.) I removed most of the black, which I've long wanted to do. I get so tired of black tees and black…

April is Poetry Month # 1

the winds of march churn the red sea, the rattling machine rusting the water, metal uncurling in the fire, abandoned chairs, full kettles in stasis on the stoves. we stop ten times on the way to the beach, the rearview recording our evacuation from the hills, the little valleys of churches, the mountains folding up behind us. sometimes we used to bring clear water to our lips, the clean spring water choked with lilies. sometimes we used to wake up inside…

wherein occurs an exercise on establishing the routine

Yesterday we drove down to Fairmount, GA, to pick up my brother, bring him up for a doctor's appointment, and then take him back home. Everything went well, but it's a 1 hr. drive there. So we were in the car for 4 hrs. Yikes. Today I will go to the grocery store. And further ponder sus out why how to establish a routine. I have never really done this to my satisfaction. I'm one of those persons who desperately wants…