$ick

in this day and age
dealing with health insurance
worst disease of all

—Terri Guillemets

“All complaints about life today will be ignored unless they are submitted in the format of elegant haiku poetry.” ~Dr. SunWolf

My week illustrated

Saturday:

Sunday:

Monday:

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Friday:

Images in the public domain, modified t.g.

  • Saturday — Zandrie by Marian Edwards Richards, 1909, illustration by Harriet Roosevelt Richards, published by The Century Co., contributed by New York Public Library, digitized by Google Books, books.google.com
  • Sunday — Happy Days by Oliver Herford, 1917, illustrated by John Cecil Clay, published by Mitchell Kennerley, Internet Archive, contributed by University of California Libraries, digitizing sponsor Microsoft, archive.org
  • Monday — Wellcome Collection. ‘A young woman of Vienna who died of cholera, depicted four hours before death.’ Coloured stipple engraving, c.1831. wellcomecollection.org
  • Tuesday — Happy Days by Oliver Herford, 1917, illustrated by John Cecil Clay, published by Mitchell Kennerley, Internet Archive, contributed by University of California Libraries, digitizing sponsor Microsoft, archive.org
  • Wednesday — I got this from an old book years ago but can’t find my notes with the source; oops.
  • Thursday — Woman in Sacred Song, compiled and edited by Eva Munson Smith, 1888 edition, published by Arthur E. Whitney, digitized by Google Books, books.google.com
  • Friday — Wellcome Collection. ‘Skeletons dancing.’ Etching by R. Stamper after Christopher Sharp. 1700s. wellcomecollection.org

Be still

January sundown —
I go out hoping for
spectacular colors
as we Arizonans are
accustomed to —

but tonight there is
just beautiful clear
simplicity of pale blue
sky with a streak of
soft alabaster clouds

it’s okay, though —
I could never be
disappointed, with
this crisp cool air
and winter quiet —

I watch the edges
of tall palms wave
ever so gently —
and all else is still
save my beating heart

—Terri Guillemets

October twilight

when you must get up early
to put the trash to the curb
because you forgot to do it
the evening before—and—yawn—
it’s still dark, but the sun is hinting
at its existence, low on the horizon
and there’s a fresh chill in the air
with Sirius & Orion hunting Mars
by the light of a hunter’s moon—
suddenly it’s no longer a chore
but glorious beautiful happiness

—Terri Guillemets

Stay the night

The moon is always
running away from me
as if she thinks that time
is just a cyclical game
of hide & seek —

She runs and runs
then keeps on running
leaving me to the mystery
of why the nights run short
and the days even shorter

Please, Moon —
just for one night
can’t you sit still
and stay a while

We can have
a midnight tea —
just you and me
we’ll talk all night
and bask in the glow
of your regal beauty

—Terri Guillemets

So simple

Sometimes my husband says really smart things. Today during a conversation on our lunch breaks, it was this—

Me:  “How can I let go of something like that?”

Him:  “Shift + Delete”

Spiraling

midlife changes curled-up
forties are fiddlehead ferns
it doesn’t look like much
until it becomes unfurled
and once we get it open
things may break apart —
eventually nests unwind
but will we bear fortitude
to turn that new life into
something just as beautiful
and yet even more free
spiraling towards fifty?

—Terri Guillemets