that's mrs. mediocrity to you

I went outside last night at dusk and the grass was already covered in dew and it took me right back to my childhood, when I was always barefoot. There was a strip of red sitting on the horizon, a perfect half moon just clearing the trees, and I walked to the end of my driveway to look out across the fields.

I love living in farm country, love this spot on this hill, love the “sheltering sky” that defines my world.

It was a very busy day in a very busy week, and I’d barely looked up from the work at hand all day. And today will be the same. But I had that moment, out looking for my naughty kitten, when life caught my eye.

Funny how easy it is to forget to notice. And how simple it is to remember.

I just had to look up.

There is food growing all around me. Stars peeking out from behind day’s curtain. Eternity stretching out above me as a grasshopper jumps into my path.

The cat was nowhere to be seen, but I knew he was watching. He wasn’t ready to go inside yet and I couldn’t blame him.

He knows exactly how to live.

all your flaws are evidence of irony

mother nature has a sense of humor
but also, a quick temper

she sends flowers as apology on a regular basis

you have to cut your own path in the forest of existence,
with a quick-sharp, heart-forged machete

courage is your metronome and
labyrinth is another word for learn

live lost and laugh at life’s thunder

the sky remembers every flash of lightning

earth is just a pattern of old scars
hiding shy beneath a veil of tattered stars

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mirror morning silence
on the break of september

reflecting every definition
of impermanence

we whisper together
in the corners of summer

not ready to come out of hiding
not ready to escape our escape

climbing each other in a tangle of mime

rain drips from my shoulders
and you trace a path

with a broken-cut
bent branch finger

turning back time
and the last fallen leaf

from the tree
of itinerant shade

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Joining in today over at Imaginary Garden with Real Toads,
where Kerry has been lovely enough to feature
some of my photos in a poetry challenge.
Thanks, Kerry!

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always, always

wear your heart

on your sleeve

.

(even when it’s tiny and hard to see)

August has been a busy month. A month of puzzle-piecing bits of time together, trying to get it all done.

My living room is freshly painted, though not yet completely put back together, and the back of the house has a new coat of paint as well.

There’s been jewelry making, getting ready for our show next weekend.

There has been work, and that’s always a good thing.

And there has been writing. Every morning, writing and writing and writing on a story that’s been with me for over a year. I start each day with this story, and it’s become a part of my life. A part of my life that feels real, these people don’t feel like characters, they feel like family. Their story keeps making me cry.

There hasn’t been much repose, but winter is coming, and then there will be nights before the fire.

A is for August, and also accomplishment. A few small ones, at least.

My garden, well, my garden is a mess. That same beautiful mess it becomes every year at this time, the moment when I throw my hands in the air and let it be messy.

Outside my window, the forest of kiss me over the garden gate has an understory of love lies bleeding.

The snails keep whispering.

And that is my fairy tale.

if i could walk away from the answers
my footprints would fill with more questions

i am held in place by the harpooned taproot
of my own bark-coated existence

but the leaves i toss into the wind
have every right to fly

the ground you walk on is made from the crust
of today’s leftover uncertainty

nothing is real but faith and
i believe in the sun
burning through my temporary cloak

winter is meant to reveal what we’re made of
and you think
it should be more complicated

forever is time’s long lost daughter
singing to the sailor of finite

what you see is only an echo

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that old dress

still looks gorgeous

on you

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Thanks so much to all of you for your lovely comments and your kind words. You really know how to warm a girl’s heart!

I wish I could send every single one of you a prize, but today’s lucky winner is:

Beth!

(I will be contacting you via email for details on where to send your gifts–your tree frog story really made me smile!)

I am sending my gratitude to all of you, it means so much that you took the time to read and comment–so many of you are kindred spirits, and it’s always so nice to know that we aren’t alone in our quest for ordinary magic.

I do have an ordinary magic group board over on Pinterest that I had started last year. If any of you are interested in joining so that you can add your own pins, just send me an email with your Pinterest name and I will send you an invitation. It might be a fun way to keep in touch.

And keep following the Bella Grace Blog Hop here for more chances to win a free issue!

xoxo

you gave me a shield to stand behind
sharp edged and burnished spike

for protection, you said

and i laughed because
you were always running
and i was always lost

at least it looked that way
when the off center sun came
shining through varicose leaves
of false forgiveness

and i raised my spear
but you said no, like this

and handed me a polished stone
of blue lace agate tied with twine

i held it up
to the center of everything

hoping for music

but somehow silence
was the perfect fit

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let’s

grow old

together

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