Poetry

Grief

Grief

With no grave to visit,no place for my grief.The loss that I feelIs it real, is it? No memorial service.No eulogy to write.Nothing to view,Without this, is it worse? A life lost forever.I can't imagine it's gone.Tears with each songA relationship severed. I still live, without you, by your choice and my need,Without hope for…

1920 2560 Stafford Wood
regret

regret

For a long time I have regretted  my answer to the question  I wish I had answered differently  Followed intuition and said what I felt What I knew was right What I wanted to say For a long time I have imagined  If I had answered differently  What would have followed What I would have…

2560 2016 Stafford Wood
yoked

yoked

laced together and tied to the cart ready for a new work day the same fields the same plow the beasts were made for suffering they press into the traces in tandem fighting inertia two hearts pounding as one machine to pull the cart into motion and plow the same fields again evenly yoked and…

2560 2040 Stafford Wood
A little girl’s question

A little girl’s question

Where is my loving mother? She is in New Orleans with her friend  Where is my fairy godmother? In the mountains with the wind Where is my Mary poppins? In New York seeing shows. Where is my Glinda witch? In the desert and the snow. Where is my artist-teacher? Painting landscapes filled with pine. Where…

1536 2049 Stafford Wood
you chose
Vinyl albums

you chose

you chose the possibility of something new ending our joy for what could be. you chose something that was unknown to replace me. you chose something else when you knew what you had. you chose something new instead of something old, you chose someone young instead of someone old, you chose the delight of discovery…

1066 2560 Stafford Wood
another

another

Another significant other to find someone new. another significant other to bring her was fatal you knew. another significant other someone other than who you knew. another significant other to supplement what was lost. another significant other became your anchor at a cost. Another significant other made me feel insignificant

1920 2560 Stafford Wood
I went to the woods

I went to the woods

He went to the woods to live deepand suck out all the marrow of life. In the Poconos, the bone marrowis served in a white coatby a smiling manwho asks if I’d like the Sancerre again. In my 5/6, sleeps 16, not including couches, 4,000 square foot borrowed homewith stand up paddle boardsand the fireplace…

1920 2560 Stafford Wood

Aristotle

“Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.”

150 150 Stafford Wood
My Prayer
Lake Naomi, Pennsylvania

My Prayer

My God,Why do you forsake me? Why do I not feel your presence in my life? I used to look on the lake and feel the peace like a river in my soul. And now all I see is the depth of the water. It’s higher than it usually is this year. I hear the birds sing and wonder…

1920 2560 Stafford Wood
Certainty

Certainty

When I imagine youAlone in the infiniteWith no one else to hold youOr your basketWanting ScotchTo silence the voices in your headOr find a voice to talk to insteadOf being alone. When I imagine youAnd all your painAnd the suffering in your soulincompletionfailurecorruptiondepravityjudgmentcriticismThe suffering you feelIn that moment… When I imagine you,I feel it too.And…

1920 2560 Stafford Wood
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