Replenishment

Replenishment

The woods stand
Cloaked in misty
Hope

A quiet has descended
As all await the promised
Rain

This draught has tested
Us beyond our limits
And we are longing
For replenishment.

JEHW
November 17, 2014

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Room For Poetry – A year of poems written together

Room For Poetry
A Year of Poems Written Together

By: Yvonne Campbell, Joan Garrabrant, Glenda Kotchish, Sarah Posey, Emily Walls Ray, and myself, Jane Holliday Wilson

I am very excited to announce that some of my poetry is published!!! Room for Poetry represents selected works of six regular women who came together every week for a year in a cozy room to make poetry. It is arranged seasonally with general poetry in the back.

I have added a page to this site that tells a bit more about it and offers a link to our bookseller “The Book Patch.” The link is also included below.

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Room for Poetry

Glenda Kotchish

$12.95

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Ghoulish

Ghoulish

Fog is thick on the
Lake today
Some might call
It ghoulish

Heron seems to
Think me a ghoul
As my footfall on
The wooden bridge
Disrupts her fishing

She squawks
And glides away

A tentative rain
Drop by drops
Duels with the dawn

Dawn is winning
Gradually revealing
The distant trees

A long week —
Some might even
Call it ghoulish –
Has brought me
Here at last

To lean on this
Sturdy railing
Chill in the air
Pencil in hand

It is good to write again

JEHW
October 30, 2014

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Consider This A Gift

Consider This A Gift

I rose early
Longing to find
The blood moon eclipse.

I hurried to the lake.
No moon to be found anywhere.

Instead
In the center of the cove —

Elegant crane — graceful, erect.
Her narrow form
Framed by autumn foliage.

Velvety, pink sunrise
Making of her
A perfect charcoal silhouette

Deep mournful breathe in —
My moon has passed me by

Answering robust breathe out —
Who could mourn this present gift.

A small leaf flutters to the ground
A raindrop christens my brow

Instead of clinging to what is fading away
I empty myself for what is to come.
A gentle baptism
Washing me anew.

It will be a busy day
I must also cleanse my thoughts —
And mind my words with care
As the various meetings tumble forth.

But for this moment I am simply held in
Nature’s warm embrace, and must

Consider this a gift.

JEHW
October 8, 2014

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Squirrel Wisdom

Squirrel Wisdom

Squirrel scurries up the branch
As I approach.

I say to him, “No need of that.
I am your friend.”

But he knows that
Were he to stop to visit
I would have to touch him –
Give his fur a nice long loving brush
Of the hand.

And then I would come away with
A palm full of his constant flea companions;
And he would have to
Wander around all day
Shamefully smelling of lavender soap.

He really does know best,
Don’t you think?

JEHW
September 30, 2014

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Truth Is

Truth Is

Truth is
I love this march
Toward the Solstice
And back out again

The calling of
The darkness toward
Resting
Regrouping
Rethinking
Life and its rhythms

The gathering in of harvest
In order to
Refresh
Reframe

And return anew
When light breaks forth again

JEHW
September 30, 2014

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Drought

Drought

Quietly

While no one was looking
A drought has
Settled on the lake

She knows this all too well
Her edges exposed
Her face covered in algae

She is vulnerable now
And so am I

JEHW
First full day of Fall, 2014

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Sweet Jasmine and Grassy Toes

Sweet Jasmine and Grassy Toes

Ancient farmhouse
Flanked by hollies
Sweet scented jasmine arbor
At the gate
Thick green grassy summertime
Grass

Daddy making deep
Mossy paths with the
Push mower

Me with my round
Four-year-old belly
Dancing along
Behind him

Breathing in the
Deep green aroma,
The bright clear day
The hint of jasmine

Staining my toes
And loving him
Endlessly

He turns to scold me,
“Don’t get too close.”
But I catch the hint of
A tender smile

Perhaps this is why now,
So many years hence

I must start each day
With jasmine tea,

And,
Whenever I can,

Run my toes through
Fresh cut grass.

JEHW
August 14, 2014

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Word Play

Word Play

Yesterday
I wrote.

I wrote all afternoon
Because it took
All morning to
Get started.

Getting started was
Hard to do.

I had to get some things
Off my desk first —
Some forms that needed forming up,
Some emails that needed emailing,
The cat.

And once all of those
Things were taken
Care of,
There was procrastination
To deal with.

That guy is a beast!

I was polite about it.
I went and got coffee,
But he was still
There when I got back.

I watered the outdoor plants,
Still there.

I changed my shoes,
Opened windows,
I mailed a letter…

Finally,
I just decided
To leave him there
On the desk
And start playing
Around on the
Floor with a bunch
Of words.
It was about 12:30 by then.

The cat made it clear
He thought I was a little
Crazy,
And huffed away.

So there I was on the
Floor
With scraps of paper,
Bits of journal entries,
An outline that
Wasn’t working –
At all.

And I just began to play.

I had planned to write for
A while and stop for lunch.

At 1:30 I finished sorting things out,
Moved to my desk
And set to writing in earnest,
Thinking, OK, I’ll work ‘til 2:00
Then I’ll stop for lunch.

At 2:30 my husband called
To check in – how sweet.
I disposed of him
Quickly.
Just another half hour
Then I’ll stop for a while.

At 3:30 my mother-in-law rang.
I put the phone on silence
And pretended I didn’t see
The voicemail.
Just five more minutes.

(Forgive me Mom
But you are the one
Who encouraged me
To write.
So I took a chance
You would understand.)

At 4:30 I finally broke
Reluctantly,
Very reluctantly,
To go to the bathroom,
Shovel down some food,
And get dressed for the day,
Thinking that if I was fast
I could come back and get in
Another half hour before my
6:00 appointment.

I was feeling like a small child
Being wrenched from her
Favorite toy.

I haven’t had so much fun
In years!

Turns out
The hardest part
Isn’t starting —
Its stopping.

As you can see
From the length of
This joyous report.

JEHW
July 30, 2014

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Worth a Hoot

Worth a Hoot

the reality is
I have to write because I
can’t draw worth a hoot

JEHW
7/30/14

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