time is as real and implacable as the sea…

The Ordinary Weather of Summer
by Linda Pastan

In the ordinary weather of summer
with storms rumbling from west to east
like so many freight trains hauling
their cargo of heat and rain,
the dogs sprawl on the back steps, panting,
insects assemble at every window,
and we quarrel again, bombarding
each other with small grievances,
our tempers flashing on and off
in bursts of heat lightning.
In the cooler air of morning,
we drink our coffee amicably enough
and walk down to the sea
which seems to tremble with meaning
and into which we plunge again and again.
The days continue hot.
At dusk the shadows are as blue
as the lips of the children stained
with berries or with the chill
of too much swimming.
So we move another summer closer
to our last summer together—
a time as real and implacable as the sea
out of which we come walking
on wobbly legs as if for the first time,
drying ourselves with rough towels,
shaking the water out of our blinded eyes.
 
Linda Pastan, “The Ordinary Weather of Summer” from Carnival Evening: New and Select Poems 1968-1998 published by W. W. Norton. ©1998 by Linda Pastan. Used by permission of Linda Pastan in care of the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency, Inc.

Man-i-cure

image by Jeanne’s iPhone

 the man I cure bites

his nails, demons, lightning strikes-

swallows every one!

Painting Rainbows

April 4, 2015: A Poem Based on a Quote Between Title and Poem

Expect nothing. Live frugally

On surprise.

  Alice Walker

Each day
I paint
rainbows.

Some
get struck
by lightning

others
overcast

light
shadows
surprise
rainbows

and
me.