Author: Ian Trimnell

TOUCH THE EARTH (ONCE AGAIN)  By Juan Felipe Herrera  This is what we do: this is what the cotton truck driver does: this is what the tobacco leaf roller does: this is what the washer-woman & the laundry worker does: this is what the grape & artichoke worker does: not to mention the cucumber workers —...

Primero Sueño, First Dream: On Crossing, A Whitmanesque By Desirée Alvarez  What is it then between us? ¿Qué es entonces entre nosotros? My horse is afraid of you and both of us are thirsty. Stone face, we crossed the seas from Spain, I’ve been riding for days past pyramids in Mexico. Whatever it is, it avails...

Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace....

Go peaceful in gentleness through the violence of these days. Give freely. Show tenderness in all your ways. Through darkness, in troubled times let holiness be your aim. Seek wisdom. Let faithfulness burn like a flame. God speed you! God lead you, and keep you wrapped around His heart! May you be known by love. Be...

Aidan’s statue, Holy Island By Andy Raine Aidan stands. His head is close to the heart of the cross. His eyes, far-seeing, scan the horizon, the joyous venturing of little boats. A torch burns clearly in his grasp, a faithful challenge in his generation, meeting, listening, heart-connecting. In his shadow is a place I covet, a...

My Friend Hope  By Krutika H. Deshpande  I have an invisible friend Who guides me through dark and pain. She always tells me not to give up As she believes my efforts will never go in vain. When the paths are not clear And I am surrounded by fear, She holds my trembling hands and says,...

Just Wait For The Sun By Lisa Marks When everything’s darkness And you feel so alone, When the rain doesn’t stop And you can’t make it home, When it feels all is lost And you just want to run, It can’t rain forever. Just wait for the sun. When family is pain, When friends can’t be...

Your love comes to me in the silence, ordinary. Like a child’s treasure I turn it over in the nook of my hand, warming its smooth heaviness. A thought of You, stony, clearly defined, drops as though down a deep well, is lost momentarily, then turns up a certainty in the heart. By Cathy Hutcheon  Good...

Ablate the Suncups, not the Ice: an Incantation By Francine J. Harris  O god of the desublime, allay the vertical penitentes their limbs, rest them back cold, not in precipitate but in seed, in potential of hydrogen. Spoon in density to be sung of their winter’s seed and soak. Sip pond to suncups, over sunrise. Far...

I am not here to pass judgement or point the finger at anyone. My name was written in the sand as one who is forgiven. Strengthened with hope, impervious to shame, I will walk freely like the freshness of the dry lands after rain. Let light spill out of heaven through my life, dispelling mediocrity and...

Living With Dementia By Annabel Sheila   She’s trapped inside the prison walls That used to be her mind. The woman that she used to be, Has long been left behind. There are times she’s quite alert, Her memory’s still intact. Then there are days when she disappears, And we know it’s not an act. No...

The Forgotten Mother By Ruby Latimer Edwards  A gray old woman sits all alone, Unloved, uncherished, and unknown. Sitting beside her broken door, Dreaming of days passed long ago, When children played about her knee Filling the air with childish glee, Tended by her with loving care, Knowing the blessing of a Mother’s prayer. But now they...

I Still Matter by Pat A. Fleming  I’M STILL HERE My looks are nothing special, My face reveals my age, My body shows some wear and tear, And my energy’s not the same. Too often my memory fails me, And I lose things all the time. One minute I know what I plan to do, And...