paths of long-term security
dead-end without notice
in the mercurial maze of life
—Terri Guillemets
change
Riven
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
Death lights heavy
Hummingbird mama
abandons her nonviable eggs —
but keeps checking back
a few more times, just to be sure.
An arm falls from a sickly saguaro
and breaks open on the ground
like a prickly green eggshell —
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
Feuille morte
dried crackling leaves
though dead
are never quite still
—Terri Guillemets
Daze in a rut
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
Anticipation
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