In 2022, Enkindle!

not-quite Journaling, 27

 2022 slithers in
under a bleak cape of clouds
it ripped out
of 2021’s rotting grip.

Souls start suffering
the loss (2021 took so much),

then they look beyond the fear,
(Behind 2022’s darkest cloak)
and they see
a spark… perhaps
the sun.

1/4/2022: My Piano Man, the not-so-Little Princess and I had a nice New Year’s Eve—we cooked, we ate, we watched the first episode of The Book of Boba Fett, and we stuffed our faces with grapes (for luck!) as the as the Times Square ball dropped. It was a good night. So, that is the spark I choose to see, since 2022 decided to arrive sunless. 

 

In 2022, Enkindle!

1/4/2022: I seldom do the word of the year thing; but last month, when Dictionary.com shared the word “Enkindle (v): to kindle into flame, ardor, activity.” I knew it was my word for this year. Enkindle has been in my mind ever since. This word feels right, warm, a good focus word for any year (and particularly apt for this one).

 

On fresh snow
an oak leaf conjures
autumn dreams,
under naked limbs
decked in winter lace.

1/7/2022: NYC is being blanketed by the first real snow of the season—cold and lovely (from inside the house). Things didn’t feel half as lovely while I froze at the bus stop. 🥶

 

winter’s bones
can spring the brightest
shoots of hope

1/10/2022: Laurie A. Conley describes her art as “gently spooky”; and that’s true. But there’s so much more to her cute ghost, lively skeletons, and anthropomorphic trees. Her creations brew smiles out of me. They leave me feeling a bit more hopeful. This piece is a new favorite of mine. Doesn’t it make smile… and hope?

 

After
the storm,
a sweet William
dares to spring through
winter.

1/13/2022: This beauty blooms in a ginormous pot outside my VA hospital. I love seeing flowers there… and this sweet William feels extra special (snow is covering the ground, the temperatures have been soul-freezing cold, and this little flower springs defiantly through the bones of her winter-slayed kin). What heart can’t keep from being moved by that gift?

- for Poets and Storytellers United--Friday Writings #9: Telling Secrets.

Delighting in Food

My favorite breakfast is a treat: 39 grams blueberries (chopped), 69 grams grapes (also chopped), 13 grams pecans (chopped and roasted), 69 grams Greek yogurt (plain and nonfat). My favorite part of eating breakfast is the joy warming tongue and thought… as I sip my magic brew: one cup of Turkish coffee (with 1 teaspoon raw sugar & a pinch of nutmeg).

my resolution?
I don’t have one, but I am
delighting in food

photo by De’Andre Bush, on Unsplash
(this is a candid picture of my taste buds, at breakfast time… honest!)

- if you read “We Will Dance this Rotten World Better”, then you probably noticed that my gallbladder is a tad stony and my liver is a bit fat. After the first gallbladder attack and a test (or 5), my doctor says there is no inflammation (wooohooo!) and the surgeon says that if the gut-ripping pain doesn’t return (and I am willing to eat a low-fat *high deliciousness* diet), I might be able to keep my gallbladder. I really like choices, particularly if they might involve me not losing another chunk of flesh (or more teeth). So, in 2022, my resolution-like plan is to make my low-fat diet fun and delicious, and try to hold on to what remains of my flesh—really, a boob and some teeth should be more than enough tribute for the chronic illness monster!

- for Poets and Storytellers United--Friday Writings #8: Resolutions.