Sun Kissed Wildflowers

we arrived beneath 
the same beating heart
joining forces 
earth side
with the strength of 
three sides

clouded in questions
you were
an answer
a hand to squeeze
when shadows danced on the wall
safe, like

ocean potion
and the race of my heart
on my bike
when the rain starts
a slide through the grass 
around the corner, monsters

holding bugs
picking pinecones
isosceles
a mystical buoy 
when the weight was
too much to bear

I see you
when I look in the mirror
when I look at old photos
when I watch my children
their laughter is your laughter
their laughter is our laughter

I don't know if I get a tomorrow
I don't know if you get a tomorrow
But I know what we got

a golden locket
a travel through time
three

forever holding
the belly laughs
of sun kissed wildflowers
echoed in the distance
past the moon
as she rises

Nothing Against the Moon

Nothing Against the Moon

I look up at the sun and I ask her to stay
it's nothing against the moon, really
it's just that I don't want this day to end
this perfect Tuesday in August
a fresh 34
the sun is making it's way through the sky, nevertheless
my eyes squint a bit
stay, I whisper, begging
and I know this feeling all too well
like when I grasp his tiny hand
enveloped so deeply in mine
asking the stars or anyone that would listen
to keep him this way
everything about him needs to stay
but tomorrow comes
and he's taller
and I know it's a request that can't be attained
but I'll ask anyway
I'll ask the sun
if she can stay

The Other Kingdoms | Mary Oliver, Devotions

I recently received Mary Oliver’s book, Devotions. I keep it next to my bed and each night read a handful of poems. I swear they were written for me. To stir and then settle my thoughts.

Mary Oliver has an incredible way with words. Each new page is vibrating with magic, the type of magic that goes a few extra layers deep. You feel it. Do you have a Mary Oliver favorite?

The Other Kingdoms, Mary Oliver, Devotions

Consider the other kingdoms. The

trees, for example, with their mellow-sounding

titles: oak, aspen, willow.

Or the snow, for which the peoples of the north

have dozens of words to describe its

different arrivals. Or the creatures, with their

thick fur, their shy and wordless gaze. Their

infallible sense of what their lives

are meant to be. Thus the world

grows rich, grows wild, and you too,

grow rich, grow sweetly wild, as you too

were born to be.

Lebanon Hills Regional Park, 2020

Like a Photograph

So many thoughts pass through my mind during the day.
They always have.

Except now that I find myself in the thick of motherhood, thoughts get lost, ignored or just crowded out.

I miss it. I miss this.

Art found it's way back into my life through photography.... & I love it.

I mean, I really love it. Utterly fascinated with the making & taking of a photograph.

Then, from photography, my creativity began to bleed into other mediums...
lettering, watercolors & my first true love, collage art.

And now here I sit, staring at a blinking cursor.

Gah, it makes me so happy.

I've always loved to write.

A way to catch thoughts, questions, feelings & ideas -- nailing them down before they're gone forever.

In a way, a bit like a photograph.

Here to Stay

It’s been exactly two years since my first DSLR landed in my hands.

Since the initial click of the shutter, things have been a whirlwind of change.

So much growth, so many questions.

My camera has been with me as I’ve learned, stumbling, how to be a mother.

It’s been there as I navigate being a wife, caring for a family.

It’s been the lifeline that grasp so tightly, not lose my sense of self.

I don’t know where I’m going yet, all I know is that I’m here to stay.