Author: Kay Foley

My body needs love
rolling ocean waves of love
on skin bones muscle.

Let me please give you a new name.
Darling Lili.  Lilliette?  Lilliana!
Most Round Moon in My Early Morning Sky.
Coco Chocolatta Caramel Cupcake?
Poppet.  My Sweet Poppet.
Twinkle Top So Dreamy.
Loving Forever Lullaby Lucy.
Best Most Always.  My Own.
Cauliflower Button.  Little Egg!
Ptomasina Pturnbuckle (with two silent “P”s).
Lolling Lightly Lilting Leaf.
Betty BetterThanMeInEveryWay.
Maple Sugar Pie With Whipped Cream On Top.
Butter Dumpling Biscuit.
Quilled Pen of the Poetess.
Finely Tuned Fiddlehead Fern.
Rolling Ocean of My Evermore.
Umbrellarina Concertina Tina.
And now.
Tell me your favorite and we will begin.

Oh I love this day
and I want to say
that I love this day
in every way
and if I may
I’d like to stay
but I must away!
Oh I’ll find a way
to play and play
for my name is Kay
feeling pretty & gay
& happy to pay
money just to lay
my head down and pray
for another and another and another day.

 

And now I shall shower you gently with fifty words:
Sweet pea, petal, tugboat, pillow, 
pantaloon, truffle, mellow yellow.
Cupcake, cream puff, rumpled angel,
damselfly, dragonfly, water beetle.
Paris France, last dance, soft brown eyes, 
pickling spice, merry mice, gooseberry pies.
Woozle, snozzle, whatsit, wiggle
crumble, crackle, poppet, sniggle.
Flower pot, lollipop, peony, pansy,
storybook, tumbling brook, magic for fancy.
And when I’m finished I think you’ll see
the greatness of words, the fondness of me.

A flock of bluebirds showed themselves
so pretty so blue so compact
flitting around a small bare tree
in the woods where we, my dogs and I, 
wandered
much less gracefully
much more crashingly.
As always my heart lifted at least
as high as the small bare tree
where they gathered
some kind of party underway.
I’d chosen that path wondering 
if it would lead away from some
other grand sighting of
pileated woodpecker
great blue heron
barred owl.
I smiled as we jingled and stomped off
thinking how little control we have
over how when and where
we’re given these surprise packages.
It really doesn’t matter which path I take
as long as I keep my eyes open.

Mr. Kingfisher sat in his usual place on that branch
in that same old fallen tree hanging out over the creek
at the bend where the two creeks come together.
I know now to look for him there and I usually do find him.
I feel now that I’m seeing the face of a familiar stranger
one to whom I might say Hello or Lovely morning, isn’t it?
smiling and going on by, each of us enlarged just a bit by virtue
of having had a pleasant interaction, each of us left 
to our own company and devices.  I do believe it is the
tiny pleasantry that makes for a lovely morning, whether
with bird, beast or human.

Eight days of pain and fatigue not severe but decidedly unpleasant
and as I grumble and complain I know in my aching bones
that others live with real pain days on end or even years
and one (possibly a saint) insists that he is blessed.
Another, at eighty-four, gets himself to the gym each morning
to slowly make his way seven times around the track
stopping often to massage his sore old calves.
And yet one more hauls himself from wheelchair
to treadmill for ten minutes of walking before 
collapsing back into his chair.
They and so many others are my heroes.

Running aground I
question the choices I make
and make them again.

Light rain falls steadily this dark morning.
Bare trees will be soaked to the skin.
I hear the gutters running freely 
and wonder where and how this rain
will make its way into my old house.
So many things to worry over and care for.
I am thankful that a house of my own 
is one of them.

Barred owl sat just there on a branch.
For long moments we surveyed each other
our eyes intent one upon the other
before he turned slightly and in no sort
of rush flew off.  Perturbed, I thought,
that I did not move along first.
Owls have such a stern look to them.
But now I’m told that owls are thought
to be spirits who look in on us
holy cross-overs, souls of loved ones
checking on our wellbeing.
Next time I’ll say, I’m good.
I’m happy.  I’m whole.
But do come again.