You separate the dark and light clothes I wash them all together I don’t scrape the carrots before I add them to soup We both don’t like talking on the phone When I wrote about you in my pink ponytail diary I called you “the bigshot” I was ten and lovesick and wanted a baby-sitting […]
One by one, the monarchs are passing like hikers on the Appalachian Trail Like tourists waving goodbye to admirers on their way to the next town They fly by like models down a runway flashing their high fashion style In a fall show marking summer’s close they sail the wild blue as they go __________Colleen […]
Not dreams as lofty goals but the unruly kind that we have at night when no one is looking The ones with potency that are brutally honest and bypass the vanity of ego Dreams that disturb and urge self-reflection with no platform to fall back on they distill life down They cross barriers and are […]
Quiet is a high scoring Scrabble word but in the morning when I’m grieving it’s an island that I’m stranded on and I’m anxious to find shelter and food It’s a filter for noise but some loud memories are too big to sift through They persist as a hum in my ears water-logged songs without […]
The evening sun streamed down onto the Hahn Garden at Virginia Tech as seven poets read among the marigolds and mums. The readings were in conjunction with the current outdoor art exhibit “Simply Elemental” and included an interlude of classical guitar, performed by musicians Ebru Bish and Renate Kehlenbeck. Sharing silence with a heron, gravity, […]
It comes up pink rises gold and sets like the ghost of a white-haired crone ____________Colleen Redman / Poets United
A.k.a. What To Wear to a Dream I wore a purple poet’s beret in my dream last night and asked a room full of strangers if they could guess who I was No one guessed even after our eyes became accustomed to darkness I walked through the crowd until I met another poet waiting for […]
Last night I re-read a comment from 2005 You were cancer-free when you said “I always wish I knew you were depressed” It was on a blog post titled I Almost Went to Woodstock back when blogs were like living rooms that we wandered in and out of talking to each other You almost went […]
I’m a fading flower and summer is slipping by I keep my head down and my hands busy I plant the names of blooms in the hope they grow into poems that will take care of me in my old age that will come back every year __________Colleen Redman / Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads […]
I see you only with insight in hindsight in moonlight that penetrates a dream where the parts of you that live in me are cast in sand castle worlds that wash away in morning Love has amnesia when it comes to storms My love is a boat that has saved me ________Colleen Redman / Poets […]
The last thing you said to me came in a dream ‘Where have you been?’ you asked When I lost you in Paris we were both naïve not to have made a plan Now there are secrets I’m not in on And sometimes you don’t say a word I see you but you don’t see […]
Cool dip Ladle of light Illustrious toast to the good night _____________Colleen Redman / Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads
-At five foot and one inch, I’ve hemmed many pants and skirts. Maybe if I was taller, I would have read more of the classics. Sew a straight line Let divergences be gradual Unravel tangled threads and clip loose ends Don’t cut corners Repair what matters Don’t hold up hems with safety pins Take up […]
I remember being asked but don’t remember what happened after that Did I look? Did I show? For the bribe of a popsicle? I remember where we stood between the Coast Guard Station and his family’s summer rental on the back path to home I remember the sting of gravel on my bare feet and […]
Shy moon blushes Late bloomer shine From behind leafy branches It gets braver as it climbs ___________Colleen Redman / Poets United
Mara wants to take our poetry routine on the road. Because we know each other so well and have been bouncing off each other’s work for 30 years, our featured reading at the Little River Poetry Festival came off a bit as a comedy act. Back in the day (2005 – 2012) when we […]
I used to stick my head out the backseat car window not caring that it messed my hair I still lean up and talk to the people up front and lay down and rest when nothing is happening When I stare at a stranger passing by on a highway they stare back like I called […]
Today’s poetry was paper trashUnrequited loves that broke my heartTeased out lines written in circlesBig ideas that fell flat So I vowed to quitbut miss it alreadyI put it in writing but scribbled that too Now I’m looking for loopholesto fix what I quit to write today’s honest wordnot tomorrow’s regret __________Colleen Redman / Poets United/ […]
