Author: Ian Trimnell

I am not I. By Juan Ramon Jimenez I am this one walking beside me whom I do not see, whom at times I manage to visit, and whom at other times I forget; who remains calm and silent while I talk, and forgives, gently, when I hate, who walks where I am not, who will...

Words That Wait to Be Said By Jeanne Lohmann Having come to the place where I no longer wish to be anyone else, astonished to find I’ve traveled far enough to let the children go and put the old ladder of perfection away behind the other antiques in the barn, what needs me now is joy,...

Beloved is Where We Begin By Jan Richardson If you would enter into the wilderness, do not begin without a blessing. Do not leave without hearing who you are: Beloved, named by the One who has traveled this path before you. Do not go without letting it echo in your ears, and if you find it...

Derailleur of the Heart By Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer Because our conversation feels like riding a bike uphill, I think of gears. I think of how easy it is to shift lower, how a simple flick of the thumb makes the impossible possible. Where are the gears for love? There must be better ways to use our...

Walking Past the Mud Puddle By Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer  Today I feel too clean to play, but oh there was that day when you and I walked past the mud puddle, all slick and ooze, a miresome mess, and we reached our fingers into the sludge and smeared the muck onto each other’s faces— thick mud,...

Cast All Your Votes For Dancing By Hafiz  I know the voice of depression Still calls to you. I know those habits that can ruin your life Still send their invitations. But you are with the Friend now And look so much stronger. You can stay that way And even bloom! Keep squeezing drops of the...

A Work for Poets by George Mackay Brown  To have carved on the days of our vanity A sun A ship A star A cornstalk Also a few marks From an ancient forgotten time A child may read That not far from the stone A well Might open for way farers Here is a work for...

Getting Older By Elaine Feinstein  The first surprise: I like it. Whatever happens now, some things that used to terrify have not: I didn’t die young, for instance. Or lose my only love. My three children never had to run away from anyone. Don’t tell me this gratitude is complacent. We all approach the edge of...