Category Archives: Social Issues

day 214

two tanka tango

i had never danced
with such wild abandon
no, i wasn’t drunk
i was mortified…distressed
there was no music playing
it was quite a scene
some gawked in horror, some laughed
at me…spinning round
flailing limbs, tossing my hair
spider web stuck to my face

~kat

I had my eye exam today. The word exam is a misnomer I think. It’s not the sort of thing one studies for. I don’t know that I’ve ever failed. But age is dimming my once sharp vision. Every year my prescription gains a percentage or two. In the world of eye health, higher numbers are not a good thing. But these days we have the technology to keep the lens lightweight and slim. So, it’s not so bad. 

Of course that leads me to my next daunting task…picking out a new pair of glasses. There are hundreds to choose from. Hundreds. And only a few that I can bear the looks of…actually I can barely see them. I take a photo on my phone and then look at myself using my current inadequate glasses. Invariably the one I settle on is the most expensive. But I tell myself, I deserve to treat myself every now and again. And I have good insurance that covers half. It’s a chore. And the fact that I’m saying that makes me sound old…cranky about the extra effort it takes to get along in the world.

I’m chuckling to myself, thinking, it’s come to this now hasn’t it… I am struck by the fact that I am so fortunate to be here. Fortunate to be able to do mundane things, to follow a schedule (if I forget, my animal friends remind me to tend to them at least), to have a job that pays the bills, to have friends and family. 

So, my eyes are going, my joints ache, and my hair is thinning from my head and growing on my chin. But I am alive and relatively healthy. For the time it took to consider all this, to write a silly poem, to collect a photo for today’s glimmer…I almost forgot that the world around me is crumbling. And I realize too, that even if everything ends as we know it, they can’t take away the memory of today. A good day. I’m getting new glasses after all. That first step outside is always a stunner when I look at the trees and see each leaf clear as day. Something to look forward to. That’s how I get through times such as these. Moments count. 

Much love, peace, and glimmers to you.

~kat ✨✨✨💚💚💚✨✨✨


Today’s glimmers are some old favorites. One can never get enough bunny and hummingbird mojo!


day 213 ~ a ReVerse Poem

day 113 ~ a ReVerse Poem

as ignorant blind fools sleep
along the forest edge I went
I refuse to blend into oblivion
Obviously, it’s clear as swamp water
done and kept anonymous
potted plants are not still life

~kat

Well, this week’s ReVerse will make you think. I tell myself that I should not try too hard to make sense of it. After all, it’s just six lines lifted from the poems written over the past 6 days. Six lines. 

To say ‘it’s been a week’ is a loaded statement for sure. It’s been months of unbelievably insane weeks. No need to wait for the left shoe to drop…it’s been raining left shoes. 

That said, hope feels like a very brave thing to do. In those moments in between hopelessness I have glimmers to keep me.  I hope you are able to embrace the glimmers in your life as well. Be assured you are not alone. 

Much love and peace to you…and glimmers, especially glimmers!

~kat

✨✨✨💚💚💚✨✨✨


day 209

lightening in the distance ~kat
death of an experiment

so this is what it feels like to exist
at a time of history repeating,
to wonder who they will come for
next; to resist hate in a world
where kindness and compassion
are revolutionary acts, where caring
is a liability, where the words on
my cell phone are an indictment,
where it’s just a matter of time
before they find me out…well…
I’m not hiding…like mercury colliding…
I refuse to blend into oblivion
with those who sleep through this
nightmare while innocents suffer…
I read today, the bees are dying
someone should do something, but
the inconvenient truth of the matter
is, someone is me, and I don’t know
what to do, except to shine a light,
to tell you, to tell anyone who’ll listen,
the bees are dying…because
I think you should know

~kat

Today’s poem speaks for itself.  That said, I present to you today’s glimmer…literally, lightning in the distance and the sounds of midsummer nights in the foothills of Bramlett Mountain. Even while the world sleeps, the forest sings, for the trees perhaps? Another lesson to consider from these woods that I call home. 

much love, peace, and glimmers to you. 

~kat ✨✨✨💚💚💚✨✨✨

Night sounds on Bramlett Mountain ~kat

yesterday 207

the morning after too much

its insanity
death bit the apple again
‘cause monsters have rights
to wield guns of war
to assault and rape children
to disappear others…
deals with the devil
by the vilest of the beasts
buys them clemency
or seats at the top
no justice, no peace…victims
pay with innocence
a selfish nation
loses its soul drip by drip
on blood stained pages
history repeats
as ignorant blind fools sleep
soundly, unaware

~kat

I ran out of day once again yesterday. I having a hard time managing the steady crushing pace of work, caretaking, and housekeeping that keeps me engaged mindlessly dawn to night fall. Even the pleasant hours of dusk escape me, robbing me of moments to sit, to rest, to write. There is too much to do in this world that is becoming too much to bear. So here I am. It’s tomorrow with an unfinished poem…two lines, maybe three was all I could manage before sleep overtook me. 

There was another mass shooting…this time in New York…more thoughts and prayers of course. There is a monster who preyed on children who is trading secrets for a pardon from our president, who may consider granting it to protect his rich friends (including many suspect himself), who feasted at her table, and to make their ugly story go away. No mention. No justice for the victims. Tariff deals are being penned under the guise of making our country rich, where the fine print clearly states this will be fulfilled by emptying the pockets of we the people as prices rise exponentially. People are continuing to disappear. And children are starving. It’s insanity. On a bright note, at least I recognize that it is!

As promised to you and to myself, I managed the capture some glimmers along the way…yesterday. And so I share them here with you. To hopefully give us something good and lovely to dwell on. I’ll BRB with today’s Day 108!


Poetry Form: a string of haiku style poems.


day 204

switching to survival mode

I know how to survive, how to
stretch a few leftovers into more
how to add water to milk
to make it last one day longer…
when I was a girl my family lived
in a motel with a kidney-shaped pool
a few steps away from the interstate,
from an underpass where others lived,
who weren’t as fortunate as we
I know where to find pennies,
enough buy fast food dollar meals,
how to barter for groceries,
taking care of someone else’s kid
so mine could eat, how to resurrect
hand-me downs to clothe us, sewing
squares of well-worn fabric into colorful
quilts to brighten our space, oh I know…

someone told me the other day,
you’ve done a lot of things in your life…
I have, I smiled…I wanted to say
it’s called survival, but only other
survivors understand that you do
the jobs no one else will do, building
experience and skills to gain
a few more pennies, moving from job
to job, several at a time, as time
sifts through your life like sand.
i can make do and make work
the crumbs and scraps of life,
things others toss in the trash
keeping us just shy of enough…
it’s been decades now…decades…

I still keep a jar of spare change
always at the ready just in case,
I hunt for bogo sales at the market
stocking my pantry with one extra
I keep clothes patched and useful
long after they’ve gone out of style
and yet…and yet
I wake each morning grateful for the sun
and the rain, and this blessed life,
my greatest accomplishments are
my children and their children and theirs

they say the tariffs will raise the cost
of living for those of us who pay to live…I’m ready, though I wish we didn’t
need to be…I know how to survive
in the best and the worst of times.
as long as i can keep a pot of soup
simmering, there will always be
plenty enough to share and room for one,
or two, or a few more at my table
this is how we survive…together

much love, light, and glimmers to you…

~kat ✨✨✨💚💚💚✨✨✨