Fiction Starts Here

Fiction starts here
proclaimed the bookstore sign.
If only it was always
this clear,
a placard or
warning buzzer
when my mind
goes on walkabout-
my perceptions
fuzzy at best-
you are now entering
the fiction area-
perhaps an interesting story
but not true.

Fiction starts here
and continues
in the current national
political story,
certified fact-free,
an uneven plot line.
Who wrote this mess
and when will
fiction end here?

A.H.

Counting Our Sums*

Not the final number
that matters
but the act itself,
choosing to count
blessings before blights.
My counting includes:
the Boys in the Bed (don't worry-it's legal) -
my husband John,
the cat boys Tom and Oscar,
my first defense
against cold inside and out.
Thus fortified,
I continue adding-
coffee, always coffee,
after which family and friends
can be appreciated.
Some friends are human,
others are words
to read and write,
a comfort and refuge.
Next I give thanks
for a fledgling faith
and life circumstances
that allow
the luxury of reflection.
Here, still here,
counting blessings.

*"We are all blessed and we're all blighted...Every day each of us
does our sums.The question is, what do we count?"
Louise Penny - "The Murder Stone"

A.H.

Anchorage Woman Tapped As Policy Advisor to President-elect

Policy Revision

"I'm going to build a wall and make Mexico pay for it."

"Well, maybe not a wall the whole way-maybe a fence in places."

Okay, in the spirit of unity, let me help with this.
How about a phalanx of those plastic pink flamingos on some stretches?
Wouldn't that be pretty?
Oh-and people could dress them up in outfits for special occasions.
I don't want to discriminate here-we could use any kind of lawn ornament to mark the border. Everyone has an extra lawn ornament in their garage. Gnomes anyone?
And... lawn ornaments need a lawn so we could plant a strip of grass. Well okay we could xeriscape in places. Best of all-it's budget neutral- we just use what we already have.

Now, about that border with Canada.

A.H.

I Voted For.... plus haiku

I Voted For....

I vote for civility
and kindness
my platform is
decency and respect
I choose to be
an involved citizen
I elect not
to demonize others
I select media
that is intelligent
and fair
I believe
we are the government
and I vote.
****

Flurry of feathers,
bird festival at feeder-
a feast for my eyes.
***
November morning
dark and cold, inside and out-
waiting for the light.

A.H.

Feelings plus Haiku

Bare branches surprised
by the newly fallen snow
will forget in spring.
******

Exquisite Pain*

Some sadnesses
shrink
to tiny hardened pebbles.
Easy to forget
until stepped on
and then
the pain sears.

*exquisite pain is an actual medical term meaning severe pain
*********

Hit a seam
of molten anger
yesterday,
had to be careful
to let it
propel me forward
into action,
not inward
scorch my spirit.

A.H.

Goodbye -for Mary E.*

Abandon us
just as the cold and dark
settle in
and we most need
the hard flint of your words
to strike a light on the page.

Go ahead, leave us.
I won't miss your
wit and wisdom,
your pithy profundities,
your erudite elderhostiles.**

Thank you writer-friend
for your word pictures,
your solid sentence structure,
the poems hewn
from pain and pleasure.

I will miss the shelter
of your words.

A.H.

*Mary E. is a writer and friend who is moving out-of-state. She has been an integral part of Saturday writing group.
**elderhostiles are Mary's vignettes about life at her senior housing complex.

Goodnight, Garden / A Final Garden / October, Alaska

Goodnight, Garden

Time to
put the garden
to bed,
tucked under a
blanket of leaves.
Rest now,
have sweet dreams
of spring sun.
Night, night.

A Final Garden

Some year,
perhaps soon,
I will plant
my final garden.
Autumn now
for me,
loss and decay
after splendid summer
of growth and color.
Some time-
a big sleep
with no awakening
when I
become earth.

October, Alaska

I want to take
big, fat bites
of the sun,
to feast on light
before winter.
Might be stuffed
with sunlight
for a day,
not sustained
for the season.

A.H.