The snow has finally melted from my garden, revealing these wonderful Iris reticulata ‘Pauline.’ If I were naming them, I would have called them ‘Elizabeth Taylor’s Eyes.’
Elizabeth Taylor’s eyes
The picture does not do them
justice – they are a shade of blue
so purple the sky weeps, not
out of jealousy as one might
suppose, but with joy.
As part of my Lenten observance this year, I’ve decided to write a poem each day in response to a list of prompts. This is the prompt (and poem) for the third day of Lent, which was yesterday; it took longer getting here than I expected.
Sign
Watching M*A*S*H, I see that iconic
post bristling in the middle of the camp
with signs that say, “You are not here,”
embodiment of the dislocated denizens’
fervent prayer to be anywhere
else.
The signpost from the M*A*S*H set, as seen in the Smithsonian museum. Photo taken and released into the public domain by Stephen Williamson.
As part of my Lenten observance this year, I’ve decided to write a poem each day in response to a list of prompts compiled by several Lutheran mission territories (also called synods). Today is the second day of Lent.
Proclaim
a fast from guilt, a season
of abstinence from beating
oneself up, from lying
awake nights to relive every lapse
in judgment, every hasty
word, every inaction
to repent means to go a different
direction, not to retrace one’s
missteps
The Daily Compost 