Forsaken

There are times when tears fall wasted.
Times when silence can't be broken.
Times when even love falls short.

~Heather Westover

Hues of Orange

I fell in love today, on a wooden bench in front of a bank. I was reading Oranges by Gary Soto. The world blurred in silent movement around me as I read. I was lost in the simple beauty of his details. It was like tasting love for the first time. It was sweet and sticky and o-so lovely. I was not on the walk Soto wrote about, but I felt like I was--it had come alive for me. I guess that's what writing is all about, to give to others tastes of things they haven't held or maybe things they've forgotten or lived past. Give them an orange, a nickel and a piece of chocolate and let them fall in love.

Oranges by Gary Soto

The first time I walked
With a girl, I was twelve,
Cold, and weighted down
With two oranges in my jacket.
December. Frost cracking
Beneath my steps, my breath
Before me, then gone,
As I walked toward
Her house, the one whose
Porch light burned yellow
Night and day, in any weather.
A dog barked at me, until
She came out pulling
At her gloves, face bright
With rouge. I smiled,
Touched her shoulder, and led
Her down the street, across
A used car lot and a line
Of newly planted trees,
Until we were breathing
Before a drugstore. We
Entered, the tiny bell
Bringing a saleslady
Down a narrow aisle of goods.
I turned to the candies
Tiered like bleachers,
And asked what she wanted -
Light in her eyes, a smile
Starting at the corners
Of her mouth. I fingered
A nickle in my pocket,
And when she lifted a chocolate
That cost a dime,
I didn’t say anything.
I took the nickle from
My pocket, then an orange,
And set them quietly on
The counter. When I looked up,
The lady’s eyes met mine,
And held them, knowing
Very well what it was all
About.
Outside,
A few cars hissing past,
Fog hanging like old
Coats between the trees.
I took my girl’s hand
In mine for two blocks,
Then released it to let
Her unwrap the chocolate.
I peeled my orange
That was so bright against
The gray of December
That, from some distance,
Someone might have thought
I was making a fire in my hands.

Happiness in a Haiku

It was just a normal day until I found this sweet, little book hiding on the back wall at Barns and Noble. I squealed with excitement and hugged it all the way to a little corner to do a quick "should I really buy this" reading... followed by "a-yea, you should really buy this" thought and now it's mine, all mine! There's something about a haiku that makes you stop, think and refocus on the essentials. Three magical, tiny lines that turn the ordinary into extraordinary. Patricia Donegan refers to them as "naked moments" and suggest that we could all do well if we lived with the "haiku mind," the ability to see the world and be awake to its simple, pure truth. I thought it would be fun to share of few of my haiku with you, so every once in a while (if I'm brave enough) I think I just may...

Here's one to get my courage flowing--in fact, it's my very first haiku, one I wrote years ago:

Tender branches bend and sway

stirring azure sky;

The roots are longing.

~Heather Westover