sunset casts shadows
yet we see only colors
and glorious light
—Terri Guillemets
sunset casts shadows
yet we see only colors
and glorious light
—Terri Guillemets
—LIFE magazine, 1922 February 23rd, digitized by Google, books.google.com
Saturday:
Sunday:
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
Images in the public domain, modified t.g.
• Saturday — Zandrie by Marian Edwards Richards, 1909, illustration by Harriet Roosevelt Richards, published by The Century Co., contributed by New York Public Library, digitized by Google Books, books.google.com
• Sunday — Happy Days by Oliver Herford, 1917, illustrated by John Cecil Clay, published by Mitchell Kennerley, Internet Archive, contributed by University of California Libraries, digitizing sponsor Microsoft, archive.org
• Monday — Wellcome Collection. ‘A young woman of Vienna who died of cholera, depicted four hours before death.’ Coloured stipple engraving, c.1831. wellcomecollection.org
• Tuesday — Happy Days by Oliver Herford, 1917, illustrated by John Cecil Clay, published by Mitchell Kennerley, Internet Archive, contributed by University of California Libraries, digitizing sponsor Microsoft, archive.org
• Wednesday — I got this from an old book years ago but haven’t yet been able to find my notes with the source; oops.
• Thursday — Woman in Sacred Song, compiled and edited by Eva Munson Smith, 1888 edition, published by Arthur E. Whitney, digitized by Google Books, books.google.com
• Friday — Wellcome Collection. ‘Skeletons dancing.’ Etching by R. Stamper after Christopher Sharp. 1700s. wellcomecollection.org
midlife changes curled-up
forties are fiddlehead ferns
it doesn’t look like much
until it becomes unfurled
and once we get it open
things may break apart —
eventually nests unwind
but will we bear fortitude
to turn that new life into
something just as beautiful
and yet even more free
spiraling towards fifty?
—Terri Guillemets
trapped in a bottle
thrown out to sea
trapped in a bottle
my wishes are three
trapped in a bottle
that’s drunken me
trapped in a bottle
emotions stormy
trapped in a bottle
flashing brightly
—Terri Guillemets
Owls are hunters
Humans are mechanical separators —
separating by metal machines
meat from bones
life from death
fat from essence —
but in Nature, where Man used to come from
a long time ago — remember it? —
none of those things is separable.
BRAIN from SENSE
—Terri Guillemets
tortoise clouds
barely crawling across the sky
hare clouds
drifting swiftly over our heads
chameleon clouds
changing every moment
borrowing colors from the sun
dragon clouds
breathing fire into the horizon
—Terri Guillemets
Fortune is a centaur —
half man, half luck
—Terri Guillemets
for want of wings
we have been earthbound —
but hearts and dreams soar
—Terri Guillemets
scrambled blackout poetry created from Rafe Martin, Birdwing, 2005,
it’s not that the people
with nice shiny attitudes
haven’t been banged up —
but they buff out their
dings and scratches with
gratitude and positivity
perspective and grace
resilience and courage
with purpose and faith
—Terri Guillemets
Grief bores holes
in our hearts & heads
like a woodpecker
— peck peck peck
— knock knock knock
You can’t make it stop
Eventually it flies away
— but leaves pits
that never fully heal
—Terri Guillemets
one by one the trees they fall
and before you know it, the forest
—Terri Guillemets
When I fall into old age, let it be not a drunkenly face-first tumble but rather a graceful autumn leaf drifting from the tree. (Or do we ascend into our older years? If so, then let me soar and not be slung.)
—Terri Guillemets