September 13, 2021

Two hours into sleep

Nerves in my legs tense and twitch

Like a raging fire.

Leg lifts at midnight

Try to get these twitching legs

As tired as I am.

On Sunday night

There are no trucks on the highway

The night is still,

I listen toMy husband’s breathing

As he sleeps and dreams,

No chirping crickets

No singing birds

Or squirrels screeching,

My jumping legs

Tell me I am alive

— the silver lining,

I wonder where

All the cicadas have gone,

They weren’t as loud this year

Or here as long,

There is no rain,

No tree frog songs,

No sirens wailing,

There is only me

On a silent night

As the moon climbs high in the sky.

50 year reunion

July 2, 2021

I’m going to my 50-year high school reunion

traveling across 5 states,

I don’t like crowds or small talk,

my ADHD hears every conversation

like it was my own.

But I am going, for all those souls

who are with us only in spirit,

I’m going for all those too sick to go

and for those who can’t afford it,

I am going for them, to stand in the picture

and be counted

while I still can.

I am going for my husband,

because we met there,

and now we’re here, and still in love.

I’m going because high school

was not a blast,

a difficult memory,

but we all grow,

and we all change,

and I’m glad for those of us

still here.

cfblack, 7-2-2021

Fireflies

June 30, 2021

On a hot, summer night in mid-July,

sun sinks below horizon of a pink and orange-lit sky,

and I run, catching fireflies.

Bright yellow dots blink and blink

against the darkening,

I like to see how many fit in my hand

without squishing them,

Street lights tell me,”Go home! Go home!”

I run to catch some more, and then,

just before my mother calls, I open the lid to my jar,

As they come out, I say “Good-bye!”

to each and every one.

cfblack 6-26-2021

family history James Agmew

June 30, 2021

Family history fact for the day.

In 1870, the man named James Agnew who was my GGGrandpa lived in Montgomery, Ohio (still a part of Hamilton County as is Cincinnati), owned 85 acres of farmed land and 22 acres of woodland. The land was worth $6000, he paid out $100 in wages that year, owned 4 horses, 5 cows, 16 pigs, farmed 50 bushels of winter wheat, 12 of rye, 25 of Indian corn and 130 of oats.

When I am old

April 5, 2021

When I am old,

I’ll fear the night,

when monsters rise

from under the bed,

and doubts appear

to haunt your sleep,

and no sun shines to guide you,

when fears come through

the fabric of dreams

appear more real

than what they are,

they whisper storms and tragedy

and darkness folds around you,

But morning comes and fears subside,

Sunrise reds will light the sky,

The owls retreat to parts unknown,

the birds in song remind you,

Another day has dawned.

cfblack 04-05-2021

Palm Sunday

March 28, 2021

As a child,

I liked Palm Sunday

more than Easter.

It made more sense to me

than the story later.

The people waving palms

to greet His entrance,

Him smiling back at them,

upon a donkey,

all the while knowing

their imminent betrayal

would soon bring His life to an end.

Their inability to match His love,

even as it sustained them,

His calling for their forgiveness

as His spirit rose to heaven,

This is the Essence of Who He was,

This is the Son of God.

His rising from the dead

in human form,

then to lift into the sky…

to where? outer space?

to a heaven world beyond?

His body once again would die

and turn to dust once more,

David Copperfield, Nick Fury,

or David Blaine might do as much,

But to change human hearts?

to turn their hatred into love

where Kingdoms centuries later would bear His Name?

This is the work of the Promised One,

a Messenger from God,

this is One of the Holy Ones,

the Essence of what is Love.

cfblack 03-28-2021

Below zero

February 9, 2021

There is a beauty in it,this cold,

this frozen landscape

of snow,

the barren trees reaching up

against a sky of grey,

the sunlight glistening

like frosting on a cake,

fingers, cold inside of gloves,

feet that start to ache,

dogs sniffing anything

they come across that day,

The coldness of a night sky

with a million stars,

the Big Dipper sparkling

above us, where we are.

cfblack, 2-8-2021

snow haiku

February 7, 2021

Snow six inches deep,

Never melts but turns to ice,

The dogs walk on top.

cfblack 2-7-2021

Winter haiku

January 5, 2021

Gray skies no sunshine,

Winter birds flitter in trees,

no leaves to hide them.

cfblack, 1/5/2021

Winter

January 4, 2021

Winter. I remember you.

Thought I had left you behind.

Deep gray clouds,

barely light,

Snow descends upon us.

Snow plows! don’t exist in the South,

clear the roads for drivers,

The Sun in all its glory, hides,

We cannot see your face,

Fill us with your radiance

and clear these clouds away.

cfblack, 1-3-2020