12 Words on 12-12-12

Remember wishing
when the clock struck
12:12?

Today...
are those wishes
granted?

Autumn Falls--A Poem

Autumn is undeniably my favorite time of year. The warm colors and comfy clothes, the crunch of leaves...the way it creeps in gradually so you don't really notice the change until it's too chilly to leave the house without that extra layer.

I. Love. Fall.  And also this poem:

Autumn Falls

We char filets wrapped with bacon

on hot coals one last time, and enjoy

some power over dead things to come.

Death pollutes the air, its fingers

curling around a honeybee, gripping

tighter, ending his drunken, lazy flight.

It exhales on maple leaves, wounding

their color and crisping their flesh

until they let go and drop to the ground,

protecting the seeds that lie below

and wait for spring.

One of my favorite photos from Russia.
A golden birch in front of the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow. 

Happy Birthday, Little Blog!

One year ago, I wrote this post and started my blog.

Looking back, I think I've done pretty damn well with my own set of rules (see how I threw the cussing in there?)...except for posting poems.  I'm still writing them, though not as often as I'd like.  I've got a lot of poem "starts" and images in the little notebook I keep in my purse, but that's the easy part.  It's actually percolating on them and brewing them into an entire poem that's difficult.

This year, I will strive to write and post more poetry.  How's that for a vague promise?  It'll be much easier than the "once a month" rule I held myself to before.  Because, hello!  I have TWO children now.

A lot has changed in the past year...and the whole bringing life into the world thing was the biggest.  It's also why I'm so happy I indulged my craving to blog.  I've got a catalog of my family's life for me to look back on and for my boys to see when they're older.  And that's something to be proud of.

Now go have a piece of cake to celebrate my little blog's first birthday.