un.breakable

i had migrated away from the breakable dishes many years ago. i'm the one who breaks things, butter dishes fly when i swing the fridge door open wildly, coffee pots (i've broken more than i care to admit, WHY do them make them so fragile?), countless plates, bowls, and cups.
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i embrace the glass is already broken mantra, because largely, that is what happens when i get glass, nice glass. so i don't. or didn't. but now, i've decided to migrate back to the breakable dishes, these japanese pottery pieces i have been wanting to employ when the children fledged. and now they have.
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so i stacked up all the unbreakable, not lovely dishes, having already stashed my grandmother's stonewear in the garage for safekeeping until my daughter is old enough to take it (mind you, the woman did not gift me china, china would never survive my rough handling, neither did she gift me crystal, but stonewear in a pattern of my choosing, pfaltzgraff olivia. quite lovely).
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the box of breakables and some undesirable bowls picked up on whim, sit in a box waiting for destination unknown. at this moment, i have no idea what to do with them. but likely they will end up at a thrift store and be purchased by some other mother with children under foot.
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my new dishes are porcelain made in china or pottery made in japan. collected here and there over the years, i've been stashing it away in places where i could glimpse its beauty, but it would not get broken. until this weekend. i washed it all and replaced all the old stuff with these gorgeous pieces of art.
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i think that is what it is for me, i want to enjoy this season of my life, so as i sat at dinner last night with my love, the fluorescents turned off and a row of candles illuminated the room and cast a gentle glow on our faces. it is time, to slow down, to enjoy all of the things we have worked hard for, and to trust that times will only get better.

deadheading

the sluggish start to the morning gave way to a chai laced cup of cafe bustelo. something spicey to get going.

and so i picked up a porcelain dish and walked out to my garden. the marigolds, all from last year's seeds, have faithfully provided fodder for the coming year.

deadheading is one of the most enjoyable parts of gardening, it is reaping abundance. harvesting future marigolds. and so i carried this dish around to the trellis where my morning glories have all faded at the same time. from a riot of blooms to a collusion of seed pods, many ready to be harvested.  life, it seems, has left these vines this season, but they were all the fruit of last season's vines. and so, i have them now, gathered up, porcelain dish held at the base of the pods whose seeds burst forth at the slightest pressure. each flower offering up four seeds.

the chives went to seed and so i've gathered them as well. the poppy seed pods. the assorted wildflowers whose seeds i have never collected before and whose names i do not know, the little blue job and the delicate diminutive daisy. the seeds are almost imperceptible the tiniest grains of pepper they appear to be. but i have gathered them and laid them all out to dry.

the oriental lilies are astounding. they got a late start, as i was reluctant to plant them too early, but they are exploding in a riot of color now. the roses too. wasn't sure those would make it, but their salmon pink flower petals are everywhere to be seen. brightening up the patio.

chilé verde

suzanne rae deshchidn reading her poem chilé verde at the allen ginsberg poetry awards 2014, passaic county community college.

a thousand lifetimes

how much times has passed.

how long have i been gone.

who really knows, frankly, who really cares.

i have been busy with life, and that, is a blessing. i look around and am grateful that i am caught up in the mundane. not doing too shabbily, just being. which is really all i've ever wanted. focused more on my daughter than anything at this point, and that is as it should be. still writing. still writing poems. after my last master's program, i needed a mental hiatus, and i just had to sit and stare at the walls for a while. (meaning: i taught twenty in-class hours last semester and i'm fried).

but now, the load is lightening (to a manageable fourteen hours in-class), and i'm finding my passion again. writing poems, even ordered some books on tape from the library. still no time for pulp and ink books at present, but that will come, soon enough. i've been plucking old standards off my shelf--those stored up for such a time as this--the unfettered mind, among them. mostly, i'm just reading student work, and i'm getting ready for what's coming.

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