A couple of weeks ago I was treated to a facial at a very upscale local spa, courtesy of a birthday gift…
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To the fireflies in my life
Every now and again, when I think to check my Facebook page, I discover a post that simply blows me…
Grampa, by scent
Here is another prose poem, written during a time when poems simply leaked out of my heart and all I…
Wabi-Sabi: The Beauty of Imperfection
Originally posted on PARALLAX::
By Tai Carmen “Wabi-Sabi is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent & incomplete.” ~ Leonard Koren…
Flashback
The year is 1989. I’m collapsed on the living room couch with my feet up, feeling much like a wet…
The needles are out; it must be Spring!
Good grief, the Ides of March are here already, and at the moment it’s snowing – again! – here in…
Of prisms and rainbows
Prism Sparkling rainbow colours contained in their crystal prison, awaiting a beam of light to set them free. Susannah, 2014…
Why write?
Oh my, it’s been such a long time since I last sat down with the intention of writing in this…
Torque and fervor
Amagansett Cherry by Mark Doty in Tricycle Magazine Praise to the cherry on the lawn of the library, the heave…
The hard rind – redux
Collection Out of the button-down regimen of my daily life, I scavenge fragments of wonder, shards of joy in brilliant…
Warning: addiction ahead!
I’ve never thought of myself as a “writer.” Oh, I love the English language, to be sure. I savour new…
Walking the talk: a story
When I first saw the little saying above, my first thought was, this is beautiful, and so true! Following right…
Catherine wheel
The Catherine wheel (Catharine wheel, pinwheel) is a type of firework which, when ignited, rotates quickly, producing a display of…
Larkin and the dharma
Pick up any of Buddhist teacher Geri Larkin’s books, and within a few paragraphs you’re treated to her funny, irreverent…
Roadmap
Looking down at my own hands, I see instead my mother’s; wrinkled and careworn, freckled with age and sun, blue…
For strong women
This is one of my all-time favourite poems, by one of my all-time favourite poets, Marge Piercy. No need to…
A love story
Early evening on a perfect, cloudless summer day. Temperature warm but not stiflingly hot. The evening meal over, I’m sitting…
Living on purpose
An uphill journey, this, of growth and change, and the attempt to live something more than an accidental life!
The path of gratitude
Do you ever re-read a book or article and discover that, lo and behold, you’ve missed bits and pieces –…
The list
I had set myself so many goals: After nearly ten weeks of couch-potatodom following surgery,…
I shall wear purple
Book in hand, I was getting ready to entertain myself over the two-hour train trip by reading. At the very…
Tempest in my teapot
Definition of TEMPEST IN A TEAPOT: A great commotion over an unimportant matter. A few years ago I received a…
House of women
Salt-of-the-earth women, Scots Presbyterian, strait-laced, undemonstrative, unremitting. The aunties with their hair in stiff sharp pleats, frozen finger-waves, and loose…
The operation
Well, folks, here I am back in the world again, after surgery in October to remove a couple of carcinoid…
Collection
In my mid-forties, I went through what I suppose was a mid-life crisis, likely brought on by a combination of…
Susannah Hay 