Something told me to wait a second week before attempting a reverse poem last Sunday. It was probably the Muse. I don’t give her enough credit. Though I’m ready to blame her for forsaking me. At any rate, the last few years have been a challenging season for us. Last year…the loss of four beloved fur family members. I still don’t feel I have grieved them properly, each one leaving so suddenly just a month or two out from each other.

This year started with a bang on December 31st…my wife’s health plunged considerably after major emergency back surgery, post op complications, and what now may be a chronic disability, having lost the use of her right leg. Life as we had planned, interrupted. Me, working a demanding full time job, while learning how to manage full time caretaking, our new one income budget and all the other household tasks…with grace. Honestly, it is only grace that has gotten me through this. Grace, and forcing myself to stop, to breath deeply often, and to write.

I would be a nutcase without this platform to spill my thoughts. You may have noticed that I have focused on short forms…micropoetry. Short does not always equate to easy. Some forms are structurally complex, but I take comfort in the boundaries imposed. It grounds me. Gets me into my head and out of thinking too hard about every what’s next scenario. We still don’t have conclusive answers…4 MRI’s, X-rays, CAT scans, ultrasounds in, and a few more specialists to see for third, fourth and fifth opinions. We just want a plan that moves us forward. The status quo is understandably not working for us.

All this to say, I am so grateful for this moment today. I baked a lovely Lemon Blueberry cake today. The house smells sweet and citrusy. There is a Carolina Wren pair nesting in my peace lily planter on the back porch, my other fur kids are content and happy. And the world is so very green, the wild blackberries are growing plump and dark on the vines. All this sustains me…sustains us as we traverse this challenge together. I can’t decide if this is the for better or for worse part …a little of both perhaps. I am learning it is not an either or condition. Life is not a rollercoaster if you take time to enjoy the wind tossing your hair.

And I just have to say…I’m so glad I gave today’s ReVerse an extra week to percolate. It is exquisite. A perfect snapshot of my brain. Makes me smile.

Peace, Love, and Good Health to you and yours. 🥰

ReVerse Poem - Sunday, 25 June 2023

the world blurs from view
before all doors were locked 
her glance will pierce you through
adorned in gray, mourning
long held dreams, forsaking
sets tongues a-twittering
i know you well, your truths,
golden streams breaking through
but a breath away
amidst fleeting bursts of bliss
blue as insomnia
falling with every breath
I think too much about nothing, rent free
I write stories about them in my head
i heard from a friend who’s friends with a friend 

~kat

A ReVerse poem (a practice I started many years ago) is a summary poem with a single line lifted from each entry of a collection of work over a particular timeframe and re-penned in chronological order as a new poem. Unlike a collaborative poem, the ReVerse features the words of one writer, providing a glimpse into their thoughts over time.