after we immigrated,
Holland and its tangle
of noisy, loving relatives
ceased to exist.
in my preschool mind
the plane had rocketed
us through space and home
had spun away endlessly
lost somewhere between
Greenland and the stars.
except for Opa’s warm ghost
who recited poetry to me
in each new bedroom
long after my parents slept,
my grandparents’ voices
vanished, their faces blurred.
only at Christmas
when my mother’s face
glowed in […]
I would take:
one last look
across the fields
the touch of wind
on my cheek
a rock from the pile
thrust to the surface
by frost heaves
then picked by hand
the smell of new bales
golden green
in early evening light
the song my grandmother
sang as we walked
along dusty roads
a handful of dirt
from my mother’s garden
to someday
bless my own
a snowflake
pressed between the pages
of a book […]
on special days
I walked
past the yellow buses
waved to friends
in Number Seventeen
that usually took me home
at the end of the lane
I crossed the street
continued
past Mrs. Hertz’s place
with its jungle garden
kittens playing tigers
and down the block
to Grandma’s house
inside her warm kitchen
I sat at the table
drank hot chocolate
ate fresh cinnamon buns
then
our lesson
knitting needles clicked
while she told stories
to the […]
1. Travelling/Le voyage
Travelling has always beenune horreur pour moiEven when I was a little girla tummy ache would gnaw at mepour la durée de la traversée from Guernsey to Jersey.
Imagine with my fear of water going off to the New World.I was just 22 when we set out in 1912,didn’t know a thing we didn’t […]
I may be hatching a chicken collection.
The most recent addition, a pair of hens.
They are palm-sized paperweights, made in China,
heavy bronze.
I place them near porcelain biddies from Spain.
Salt and peppers I’d forgotten till now, one black
speckled white, one white speckled black.
They nestle next to a milk glass basket, someday
collectible, meant for Easter egg gathering.
In a […]
