jopomojo

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connective tissue

of the morning light

even when the sun’s obscured

and the houses are inured

in their own malaise

soon come brighter days

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe

ordinary sky / but a second look / reveals terrible omens // portents of oblivion / as well as a pale / washed golden sweetness

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the mind loves to learn / the sun loves to rise / the people love to gather // and look in each other’s eyes / that’s the way it goes / as the planet turns

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The windstorm yesterday left the sky

a dog's breakfast of frantic clouds

hiding the sunrise this morning.

The dream I woke from before looking

out my bedroom window

was of finding myself alone

in my wife's kitchen with my mother

and my mother-in-law cheerfully

teaming up to cook and clean

and mother-hen me to within inches

of my sanity. Then (in the dream)

an email arrived from yet a third

mothering figure in my life,

my wife's elderly friend Carole,

with a bit of laundry advice.

In the dream, I jovially shared this email

with my mother and mother-in-law,

and we all had a good laugh about it.

My mother and mother-in-law resumed

their cooking and cleaning and mothering,

and I stepped, cautiously and bare-footedly,

into my wife's kitchen to survey the scene.

Looking down, I saw what I took

to be several small weeds growing

out of the cracks between the floor tiles,

and I bent down to pull one of them,

concerned that the two mothers

would be judging my wife for letting

the kitchen go to seed like that,

when I realized it was intentional.

My wife had planted an herb garden

in the cracks between the tiles

of the kitchen floor.

So I rose from my bed and looked

out the window, checked my morning

message from my beloved in Montreal

(that is to say, the afore-mentioned wife),

reported the dream and got a laughing

emoji and an "omg, it sounds too realistic,"

descended the stairs to the kitchen

(a different kitchen), prepared some coffee,

stepped out into the backyard,

the wind now much calmer

than yesterday, and snapped a photo

of the wildly whirling sky.

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do you dare to rise

do you dare to turn

earth and sun and drifting clouds

the compass points of my soul

rising from my bed

rising from the dead

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe

the roof ridge points

to changing skies

where vanishing

geese honk and fly

the scent of buds

faintly floating

in the echo

of their shrill cry

and blood red turns

to amber orange

and cars like waves

pass by pass by

on the highway

by the river

feel the flowing

to the great sea

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe