Why, Yes

Theine by Mary Kinzie

If compelled
to give it up
I would lift
as leaves do
loosened
from the tree
and feel the floating
thread of my thought
blown out
beyond itself
line loose
on the water
wandering
cinder
sleepier
than air

How I Feel About Time...

A Rune, Interminable by Marie Ponsot

Low above the moss
a sprig of scarlet berries
soon eaten or blackened
tells time.

Go to a wedding
as to a funeral:
bury the loss.

Go to a funeral
as to a wedding:
marry the loss.

Go to a coming
as to a going:
unhurrying.

Time is winter-green.
Seeds keep time.
Time, so kept, carries us
across to no-time where

no time is lost.

Angels in America

I had spent a long and lovely weekend celebrating Passover with my family, and on the way home from my brother's house, I stopped off at my mom's to visit with her for a while. My mom lives in a building with over 25 floors, with 10 apartments on each floor. This is the same building I grew up in , and as you can imagine we have a LOT of neighbors. One neighbor greeted us warmly in the elevator, a man I had not seen in years, but for whom I've always had affection. He's been kind to me since I was a small girl, and I was always beguiled by the fabled stories of his past--how he competed in the 1960 summer Olympics, held in Rome (he was a boxer) and though he never married, his popularity with the ladies.

When we saw him in the elevator, I was struck at how he is still so handsome and when he smiled, I almost fell over to notice that he had braces on his teeth. When I pointed at them, and exclaimed, "Look! Me too!" He said, "I'm 76 years old. Can you believe it?"

First and foremost I couldn't believe that he was 76! (He didn't look a day over 50.) But there was something about the braces on his teeth that made him even more appealing. Younger. Sweeter.

I'm firmly convinced that seeing him was no accident, arranged by angels on this most holy weekend. And maybe, just maybe, could it be? That I am also more appealing, younger, and sweeter with braces?

Hmmm.