Loose Leaf Notes

Like a boiled egg with the top scooped out the moon is a shell of itself ____________Colleen Redman / Poets United

Time has saved me a seat and this rocker is where I landed as if transported from a classroom where I watch the clock waiting for the last bell to save me Now the look back is longer than the look forward is and I’m watching for a door onto a bright inspiration But the […]

You know it when you see it You hear it when you listen The meaning transcends the rhyme like the content of a person speaks louder than their looks Like the living heart can hear what the ears sometimes won’t and the soul clearly knows what the mind tends to doubt ___________Colleen Redman The Shape […]

At night I live in different houses and I’m never startled by how unrecognizable they are I live in one house during the day and carry a notebook to take down the proof I can’t see my own face only its reflection I make a living with poetic renderings and make myself at home Every […]

It starts out with so much potential I flip to the ones I like I start at the back and work my way to the middle then lose my place and wander in circles like poring through clothes at the Goodwill Thrift Shop and trying on the same ones twice ________Colleen Redman / Poets United / […]

Same lunch Same nap Same birds at the feeder Squeaky rocker in a drowsy noon Poured tea might as well be whiskey Head drops with the weight of thought I wake with a gasp and a stiff neck The couch is a lifeboat I manage to inflate The poem is a fish story that doesn’t […]

It holds a bucket list of poems that I’ve mostly given up on and handwritten directions to places I can’t pronounce Its empty pages are haunted with a family of unborn chances for people I’ve never met who only want to look at the pictures I don’t drive far from home and can barely read […]

A thumbprint of evidence in winter’s cold case The muse gives witness to the moon’s phased escape _________Colleen Redman / Imaginary Garden with Real Toads

A glowing bulb to top a tree for winter’s Christmas scenery __________Colleen Redman / Imaginary Garden with Real Toads 

The thought has to drop like a pin to the floor in a bottomless dream where it stakes its claim With a prick of interest that doesn’t draw blood it won’t wake you up until morning When you struggle to make something out of nothing or look for a needle in a haystack maze When […]

The fat cats are squirrels They scare away sparrows Like fury Kongs they hang in gangs They swing from feeders like pirate raiders Slinging nuts and seed like wild west thieves Chasing off chickadees like outlaws at the bar ___________Colleen Redman / Poets United / Imaginary Garden with Real Toads

I’m distracted from my task of washing late November beets to look up all the meanings of “Red” Challenged to describe their ruby round bodies more royal than rosy more burgundy than blush I cut off their tops their blood mixes with water to make a fuchsia-filled dishpan sprinkled with dirt More cherry than apple […]

From falling in and out and drifting in between comes morning’s rude awakening when I forget what I did in my dreams _______________Colleen Redman / Poets United / Imaginary Garden with Real Toads

They’re boots A half-size too big But they don’t slip off All-weather and black I imagine them taking me to the wild places she loved Did she wear them in D.C. when we protested the war or when she fed feral cats in the rain? Broken-in but still useful Dark and official I never wanted […]

I lost a favorite earring in last night’s dream I saw my father old as he would be now if he hadn’t died in 2005 I dreamt of a shiny dress that belonged to my mother I didn’t want to wear it but wouldn’t give it away I bought a house by the ocean with […]

Red roasted day Breeze spreads like butter Chimes celebrate fall’s feast of color Steeped in Indian summer sun shades of cinnamon honey and pumpkin Cardamom, cloves nutmeg and ginger turn up the flavor of fall’s spicy simmer __________Colleen Redman / Poets United / Imaginary Garden with Real Toads

It’s like falling asleep on the subway and missing my stop Like the first day of kindergarten and my mother drives me to school but forgets to tell me she’s going to leave me there and leaves without saying goodbye It’s the first day of kindergarten and everyone but me knows how to write their […]

My husband has tools for digging potatoes but I like to use my hands Reaching down deep into the musty dark soil mounded up like swollen bellies I feel around for the curve of their bodies wiggle them loose like teeth Born into my hand without the sharp edge of a shovel more than twins […]