VALENTINE 2023

We have been in love so long 

we have our own vocabulary; 

short cuts to showing what’s in our hearts. 

We share our children, our family, our day-to-day

routines and conversations.

There are references no one else could fathom

and memories we hold as secret treasure,

forever full of love and laughter.

 

We have been in love so long--

we are together, and yet, apart: 

he at the library table with maps,

me in my chair with open laptop, 

sharing jokes and photos and messages,  

exchanging schedules, lists and symptoms  

over breakfast, as well as vital decisions

regarding lunch and dinner. 

 

We have lived and laughed so long that

sights and sounds and unedited opinions 

meet and meld with all our flaws and virtues--

and through it all, he is me, and I am he:

a single Valentine heart between us. 

and if anyone ever asks again that long-ago initial question--

that ceremonial and vital question-- 

we’ve been in love so long that we both would say 

“I do.”

Love and Cinnamon

 Love and Cinnamon

 

I was making a cobbler..

apple, of course.

There are always apples;

an everyday fruit, made wonderful

by combination

with other everyday stuff:

flour, butter, love, and cinnamon—

 

I was peeling apples..

a mindless task,

stroking peel into the sink:

red coins of apple skin,

piled in the white enamel sink.

A snapshot, a moment, a vignette—

enough to make me pause, to take note of 

the quotidian art in an apple peel, blending

the common with the commonplace.

Love and cinnamon, love and anything,

creating something wonderful.