As quick as a wistful desire
flitted across my thought
like a tree limb’s shadow, in the breeze,
came in the solid underpinning
as an invitation,
and, as quick as that,
we fluttered free
A little time to pack,
a little time to tend to newly planted trees,
and we’ll be off, while it’s still cool,
in the morning
Leaving behind the calculations
of all the things we have to do,
sensing the boon of this,
a reset, and a chance
to clarify our view.
©Wendy Mulhern
June 2, 2021
My mind is written through today
with double lines, as when you write
with broken chalk, where two edges
touch down at once,
my words over my words,
my thoughts looped back,
noticing the echoes
I don’t want to do it often –
it has a graying effect,
like much-used blackboards,
or like checking my phone
far too many times
The afternoon is not like that –
each sun-touched fir and fern
floods itself with presence –
no thoughts of past or checking for the future,
taking in each golden ray of now.
©Wendy Mulhern
June 1, 2021
I’m not afraid of end days,
because I’m learning
that succumbing to the story
would entail an abdication
that I will not do
I will not allow time
to roll like a wheel,
I will not assume that anything
just happens
I am learning sovereignty
over what moves in thought,
I am learning
what doesn’t more in thought
doesn’t move at all
I will stand strong
in my place with what’s unfolding,
my steps on earth continually
approaching heaven.
©Wendy Mulhern
May 31, 2021
I will agree
to not go backward.
We can pause, we can rest –
that’s good – it lets all the ripples
catch up to us, it lets
the consequences of our revelation
settle into place
It is well to take the time to celebrate
the new green, the new calm,
the ready place for long waiting seeds
to swell and sprout, and start to branch
into new understanding
It is not going backward
to take all this in –
it’s just allowing time for new hope
to bear its tender fruit.
©Wendy Mulhern
May 30, 2021
I’m publishing my new book with a different service, because the one I’ve used before has changed, and besides, it only does paperbacks. I wanted this book to have a more substantial heft – not to be ponderous or imposing, but to reflect the gravitas of something that has the ability to comfort. I also wanted it to be intimate, so I designed it smaller than other books I’ve published.
The proof arrived Wednesday. I like the heft and feel of it. There were certain disappointments; it came without its jacket and there are some things on the cover and inside that I need to nudge into place (not unexpected, but one wishes for first time perfection). The missing jacket part may cause some delay in publication, but that may turn out to be propitious, as there is something more that may be added to the book. More later …
In this moment of afternoon
I walk in quiet wonder
through a subtle quality – the day
softened by tears,
softened by sweet conversation
that went on last night long after dark,
softened by the relief of finding a next step
out of a tight place
There are fewer words in my head,
and that is softer,
and the sun and breeze are softening each other,
and we can have direction
without being driven,
and we can have this day,
uninfluenced by time.
©Wendy Mulhern
May 29, 2021
I watched how the sun
sifted through the firs,
how it dappled the eager forbs,
stretching out long
after months as ground cover
I felt how the warmth was bestowed
in the precise places where the sun hit,
and I considered how precise
my thought must also be,
to pick out truth
and not slop over into lies,
and how sun-like this practice really is,
the bright places and the shadows
all basking in the overflow of grace.
©Wendy Mulhern
May 27, 2021
Announcing my next book:
Time, and Times, and Half a Time
My next poetry book, my tenth, is coming out soon. This is my most intimate work so far … the poems were written in the first two years after our daughter’s passing
As a poet, it is my discipline to write a poem each day. My primary criterion as I write is that my poems be deeply honest – that they explore the landscape of truth, as precisely as I can understand it, at whatever level of experience is accessible to me at the moment. Therefore, my daily poems, when I look back on them, depict the terrain of my life more vividly than a diary might.
Some poems in this collection reflect the altered state I/we were in, and the changed perspective with which I found myself viewing everything. Many show the spiritual support that allowed me to find meaning in the place my life was shattered. Many are a tribute to our daughter’s wonderful spirit.
I hope this book will be meaningful to others – those who have experienced deep loss, those who know deep love, and those who yearn to understand the experience of others, to stand with them.
My book is illustrated by my friend susanna maria weiss, who captures the spirit of our daughter Heather, and of the experience of this passage.
I’ll post more details soon –
When presented with good,
evil, actually, can’t even remember
what it was thinking
It can string impressions together
in the echo of itself against itself,
in the escalation of provocation
It can lance forward
with its narrative of
good as the other edge of itself
(self righteous and indignant)
as that which justifies its bellicosity
But good – real good, pure good,
the one that never justifies
and never is provoked,
that always wishes well
and always blesses –
Evil can’t stand before it,
because, in the face of good,
it can’t think of anything,
can’t imagine what, besides good,
it could have wanted.
In the face of good,
evil drops itself entirely,
and we reach out, innocent,
to take the prize.
©Wendy Mulhern
May 26, 2021
Could be teardrops,
could be raindrops,
could be the tiniest kiss of cream
as we come toward the end
of this puddled afternoon
with a cup of coffee
and some small pools of hope
scattered and deflected
like droplets on my glasses,
and we will be OK,
yes, ultimately,
we will be just fine.
©Wendy Mulhern
May 25, 2021