***I woke up to quite a surprise this morning. My poetry collection, River Ghosts, is Black Bough Poetry’s December Book of the Month. This is such an honor, and I am beyond thrilled! Black Bough, Matthew MC Smith, and his @TopTweetTuesday have done so much for the poetry community and pushed me to become a better poet. Sarah Connor, whose poetry I have admired very much for years, wrote a very perceptive and lovely review. You can read it here. ***

Monday Morning Musings:

Winter Warmth and Winter Light

“So the shortest day came, and the year died,
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.”
–from “The Shortest Day” by Susan Cooper

Dawn comes late and dusk is early,
the sky is grey, the clouds are surly,
the wind deep-sighs, the squirrels all scurry
to gather nuts in a hurry–

brown leaves rustle, and the weak sun gleams
creating jewels on boughs and streams
glittering rubies anointing the dead, nothing seems
as it was—because the dark enfolds light’s beams

and our dreams that change with passing time
of revolving spheres and the bells that chime–
and so, we don bold red and sparkle bright,
we sing and dance, to spite long night.

Soon the shortest day will come—again—
and then, and then—as we wonder if or when
we’ll feel warmth, see light, a crocus rises from the snow

and soon spring breezes in, and winter must go.

We went to a wedding this past weekend. It was the wedding of the daughter of friends of many years. This is the first event we’ve been to since the pandemic. It was fun to dress up and celebrate with our friends.