I loved gardening
beneath sun and deep blue sky
in sensible shoes.
I loved Keith as he
painted old cheap plastic pots
‘seventies Corvettes.
I loved filling them
with flamboyant petunias,
modest marigolds.
I loved settling in,
sipping black coffee, watching
red robins rummage.
© Marie Elena Good, 2021
She spent the entire afternoon asking me relevant, insightful questions about the school’s students, staff, and mission. How do you teach babies and preschoolers a second language? What countries do they come from? What languages are spoken? Which is the most common? (She made note of Arabic, and couldn’t wait to ask her mom if she can begin studying it via Rosetta Stone or Duolingo). Would I please contact the volunteer coordinator to see if it is acceptable for a ten-year-old to volunteer to help the adults care for the children? Are masks required? Is there a dress code? Is there a form her parents could complete and sign, giving her permission to volunteer there? Even if they can’t let her volunteer yet, can she take a tour of the school, and meet the staff? Oh, and would I please tell them she is mature for her age?
Eager native sprout
seeks to share energy to
root and bloom transplants.
© Marie Elena Good, 2021
She carried her King –
Prince of Peace, and Lord of all,
while suckling her foal.
© Marie Elena Good, 2021
“Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.” ~ Matthew 21:1-5
She spewed out a detailed confession.
Her friend made a robust suggestion:
Don’t let your mouth gush –
You must learn to hush
when asked a rhetorical question.
© Marie Elena Good, 2021
Bloom confidently.
Even breeze-scattered seed is
rooted by God’s breath.
© Marie Elena Good, 2021
Some stare straight ahead.
Some can’t help but gaze behind.
Others, eyes closed, dream.
© Marie Elena Good, 2021
#seventeensyllables
scattered furniture
what used to be here, now there
drop cloths and paint fumes
jazz notes billowing
rollers, brushes, straight edges –
that man God gave me
© Marie Elena Good, 2021
She was taught to think in black and white.
She sits,
feverishly writing. Puts down her pencil, and
ponders
the thoughts that made it to paper. But more so,
how black
the emptied back of her mind now seems. Blank
and white
really, so she fixates on how erasure smudges
make gray.
© Marie Elena Good, 2021
#Waltmarie
Poem within reads:
She sits,
ponders
how black
and white
make gray.
The Waltmarie, created by Candace Kubinec, is a 10-line form of any subject. The even-numbered lines are 2 syllables, and must form their own poem when read separately. The odd-numbered lines are longer, with no syllable count restrictions.
My love for you is deep,
yet my words steep in
tepid water.
No flavor; nothing to savor.
They begin, but fade,
delayed by … what?
A depth I can’t reach,
though I beseech them.
A well with no bucket.
A spell I can’t cast.
My tone, a droning bore.
I wish my words would
soar
surprise
rise
revel
to the level of love.
© Marie Elena Good, 2021
She hosts a host of
concerts of many genres
in her core, daily,
hourly, or even
moment-by-moment. And in
those moments, she’s moved
but she doesn’t move.
Not really. Oh, perhaps she
sways. Shifts her shoulders
imperceptibly.
She’s intimate with rhythm.
She knows which music
begs an offbeat tap.
She was likely introduced
long before her birth.
Drum cadence stirs her.
Jazz makes her long to sing. Swing.
Waltz softens her eyes,
behind which she glides
across an icy-smooth floor.
She, frozen in place.
Perhaps she will dance
with moonbeams on the wall, while
the house is asleep.
© Marie Elena Good, 2021
The idea of dancing with moonbeams on the wall while the house is asleep is from “TOM’S BEACH, Scène Fourteen: A View Inside Out,” by brilliant poet Marilyn Braendeholm. More of her work may be found here: The Journal – Random. Thoughts. Notes. (wordpress.com) .
