Then the Phone Sings

I miss you. All my minutes last too long, particularly at night—while your pillow and I reach for each other and wonder... when will the scent of you come home to fill all these hollows? Then the phone sings, and the thump-thump, thump-thump... of my heart joins in, promising your voice and your face, saying now all is well. 

On the screen, your eyes

sparkle with longing and love.

I drink of your shine,

taste the strength of our bond,

and feel distance fade away.

detail from a photo by Pratik Gupta, on Unsplash

for Poets and Storytellers United (Writers’ Pantry #14: “silence is not a natural environment for stories”).

Be Like Hope

She was warned. 

Disappointment always comes

to all who believe

in her; Hope can’t be trusted. 

She was given an explanation.

Hope is just too small, not

likely to become more. Unlike

her brother, Misery, the Hope
child has no one but herself.

Nevertheless, she persisted.

“Yes,” Hope says, “I am

small and often alone. But

if you keep me

near an open heart, I spread,

spread, spread and grow

bigger.”

 

“Happy Baby Crow”, by Magic Love Crow

(because the wee crow’s expression always warms my heart)

regardless of how large Despair gets or how many souls Misery collects, a bit of Hope can always become more. Some might roll their eyes at these words or think me naïve for believing them. That’s their right. Just like it’s my right (and yours, if you want) to find solace and strength in the fact that Hope only dies when we stop hoping—and some of us will never stop.

for Poets and Storytellers United (Weekly Scribblings #12: Nevertheless, She Persisted, where I invite everyone to write new poetry or prose which includes the words, “She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.” Use the sentences at the beginning, or in the middle, or at the end of your entry. Use them consecutively or in separate paragraphs or stanzas. All forms and genres are welcomed. If you choose prose, let your story or article… be 369 words or fewer. Also linking to Sanaa’s Writers’ Pantry #13: April, here we come!

inspired by the e-book below,  which you can download for free HERE

Love in the Time of Isolation

 When the sun sleeps in,

letting fog-drunk

clouds rule the day,

my heart conjures warmth

from memories of my skin being kissed

by the lips of dawn.

 A beloved oakling

sprouting healthy leaves

in a pot—

can all things continue to grow

in isolation,

or is friendship virtually a boost?

 small magics

keep a wintered soul warm

until spring

for Poets and Storytellers United (Writers’ Pantry #12: You Gotta Know When to Hold ‘Em.  The 1^st and 2^nd  cheritas were inspired by Rommy’s Weekly Scribblings #10: Early Bird or Night Owl? and Sanaa’s Weekly Scribblings #11: Hypophora and all that, respectively.

the title is an echo of Gabriel García Márquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera, brought to mind by my recent reading of Rajani Radhakrishnan’s “Lockdown”, where the narrator speaks of “Love in the time of COVID-19 with apologies to Marquez”.