Birch Island Books

admits cool fog
permits black dogs
allows me to breathe freely, not sealed into a pod,
but part of Her, smell, hear, sink toes into wet grass,
Integral,
Integrated,
Saved.

I wakened in the middle of the night when the world was simply grey and black.
The good news is that I slept again, the less good news is that I did not sleep for long.
The world is now grey and green and goldenrod.

If this Summer Day were the Bridegroom,
I would wed in this very heartbeat.

I would wear Queen Anne’s Lace and tumble my love in the sweet meadow and feel
everything.

In fact, I think I shall.

Such a Good Girl!
I went on soft leash
and I saw doggy friends
and I got pieces of sandwich
and best of all I waded in the stream.

Love, Sgiobalta

They come to visit like long parted besties
Cousins to the reunion
To Granny’s birthday
long after she has become Great-Granny and Great-Great Granny and Ever-So-Great Granny
and has ceased to be embodied as a single woman
still they come,
cousins to the reunion,
her embodiment now.

Not where I thought I was going with this.
Hmm.
Time to listen to some stories.

I came out in the dark and in starlight to listen and to make the words go
and now the world is revealing itself to eyes
and there might be texture of grass or tree or stone
but most of all, slowly revealed, are two dark, alert guardians
watching with Mamaidh.

Freckles deepening,
Melon for dinner,
Obeying the nap.

this moment,
on the edge,
on the brink of a very deep chasm
and the bottom is very, very dark.

I am absolutely certain that a Very Big Bad is down there.
Very Big.
One of the ones that nightmares are made from,
and I am being pulled by my guts past the edge of the cliff.

But I am a Sparrow
And my grandmothers were Dragons.
And they taught me to fly.

Thoughts, feelings, actions, messages, desires, triumphs, defeats, attempts, champions, wins, moods, niggles, memories, friends, peoples, contraditions, persons, voices,

So many voices.
I must hand them the speaking stone.
I must hear each voice and think on each voice
and respond thoughtfully to each voice
and when they come so thick and fast

I lose my footing.

Do you have plans for subjugation?

I will watch you try, and I will tote her backup weapons.
We did not raise a lady, though she is kind and generous and good.
We raised a Valkyrie.

Oak carries his brother from the darkness
awkwardly through the gap
then adjusting

Finds him a quiet spot with a gentle one
to tend and wait
while Oak himself must share his strength with many

But ever, the king leans,
so slightly,
perhaps just one iota of attention,
toward the quiet place of Holly.

In this way are the People held,
by twin kings who—in this story at least—
save one another.

So very bright at 3am,
Traveling together,
Buff and Red.
What do they talk about?
Whom do they test? and how?
May I not be found wanting.

Without voices, snores, music, shows, papers shuffling, laundry washing
And the precious hours of quiet seep into my heart
To renew old paths by walking down them again.

Not even the literal sound: right now no one else is stirring, snoring, sighing in their sleep.
Yet I feel their presence—their wonderful, warm, love presence—and I designate a thread of attention poised to follow their moments, their movements, their meaning.

But when the house is just for me
—and the dogs—
I can attend to other things, inner and outer and defying that binary.

They’re home now, sleeping, which is best;
and I will savor the next day of silence when it comes.