joyful forty, forty-one
it was just getting good
i was just getting started
and then cruel life
dealt blow after blow
for year after year
with death and strife
thieving my calm
and ova and sight
healers and patches
blessed the rocky way
but nothing’s the same —
what of me remains?
stitches and fray
—Terri Guillemets
Hummingbird mama —
abandons her nonviable eggs
but keeps checking back
a few more times, just to be sure.
Nested arms fall off a saguaro,
break open on the ground
like fragile eggshells —
after decades of desert still-life
a few seconds of death-motion.
But the night breeze is so beautiful
those breezes are — so beautiful,
it’s hard not to get swept away.
—Terri Guillemets
dried crackling leaves
though dead
are never quite still
—Terri Guillemets
At a certain point, some of us just sit down and watch the rest of our
Don’t let it happen to you!
—Terri Guillemets
It’s peeking round the corner
Playing hide and seek
I see its icy fingers
A frost’d rosy cheek
Days fall ever shorter
Autumn’s air is chilling
Warmth no longer lingers
Wild things are stilling
—Terri Guillemets