Author: Ian Trimnell

ORANGES by Mary Oliver Cut one, the lace of acid rushes out, spills over your hands. You lick them, manners don’t come into it. Orange. The first word you have heard that day enters your mind. Everybody then does what he or she wants; breakfast is casual. Slices, quarters, halves, or the whole hand holding an...

HOW IT IS by Maxine Kumin Shall I say how it is in your clothes? A month after your death I wear your blue jacket. The dog at the center of my life recognizes you’ve come to visit, he’s ecstatic. In the left pocket, a hole. In the right, a parking ticket delivered up last August...

1964 by Jorge Luis Borges II. I will no longer be happy. Maybe it doesn’t matter. there are many other things in the world; any moment is more profound and diverse than the sea. Life is short and though hours are very long, a dark delight lies in wait for us Death, that other sea, the...

1964 by Jorge Luis Borges I. The world has lost its magic. They have left you. You no longer share the clear moon nor the slow gardens. Now there is no moon that isn’t a mirror to the past, Solitary crystal, anguished sun. Goodbye to the mutual hands and the temples that brought love closer. Today...

The voice by Shel Silverstein  There is a voice inside of you that whispers all day long, ‘I feel that this is right for me, I know that this is wrong.’ No teacher, preacher, parent, friend or wise man can decide what’s right for you – just listen to the voice that speaks inside. Good evening...

After the diagnosis by Christian Wiman No remembering now when the apple sapling was blown almost out of the ground. No telling how, with all the other trees around, it alone was struck. It must have been luck, he thought for years, so close to the house it grew. It must have been night. Change is...

Earthseed by Octavia Butler Here we are– Energy, Mass, Life, Shaping life, Mind, Shaping Mind God, Shaping God. Consider— We are born Not with purpose, But with potential. All that you touch You Change. All that you Change Changes you. The only lasting truth Is Change. God Is Change. Good evening and welcome to Evening Prayers...

The lost baby poem by Lucille Clifton the time i dropped your almost body down down to meet the waters under the city and run one with the sewage to the sea what did i know about waters rushing back what did i know about drowning or being drowned you would have been born into winter...

The happiest day by Linda Pastan It was early May, I think a moment of lilac or dogwood when so many promises are made it hardly matters if a few are broken. My mother and father still hovered in the background, part of the scenery like the houses I had grown up in, and if they...

Lending out books by Hal Sirowitz You’re always giving, my therapist said. You have to learn how to take. Whenever you meet a woman, the first thing you do is lend her your books. You think she’ll have to see you again in order to return them. But what happens is, she doesn’t have the time...

Teach Your Children By Kelly Roper Teach your children to appreciate the planet. Bring home a seedling and help them plant it. Teach your children to conserve the trees. Going paperless these days is a breeze. Teach your children to respect the earth. Recycle throw-aways into something of worth. Teach your children to care for God’s...

Everyday Is Earth Day By Kelly Roper Every day is earth day, Or at least it should be. We should take steps every day to save our planet, don’t you agree? Try walking when it’s practical, And skip driving a car. It will help cut down emissions And raise air quality by far. Reuse, renew, recycle,...

The rain in the night By Heidi Williamson The past is falling on the house lightly, insistently with its own unnameable scent. I can’t tell when the first mist of it began to drift down, lifting itself gently – down. It wasn’t there, then it was all around the house, moving across the roof with a...

Because By Grace Shulman Because, in a wounded universe, the tufts of grass still glisten, the first daffodil shoots up through ice-melt, and a red-tailed hawk perches on a cathedral spire; and because children toss a fire-red ball in the yard where a schoolhouse façade was scarred by vandals, and joggers still circle a dry reservoir;...