My poem:

my immediate future

The cat is staring out the window, her eyes half-closed. 
This snow won’t last long—I can hear the dripping off the roof. 
I feel moved to put things away, make quick work of old receipts. 
Another homemade potholder is in my immediate future. 
The end of the year always feels so compact and intense. 
Deep breath, exhale, deep breath, exhale.
There’s a path somewhere underneath all the dead leaves. 
36 laps at the Y, followed by grilled cheese and tomato soup.
Meg said, “Come over any day just to sit, or write a poem.”
I’m all over the place but I can see the tethers everywhere.

The responses:

The artificial tree is lit up with its built-in lights.
Our roommate's gray cat is visiting and nestled under the wing chair in the living room.
Sitting here at dusk drinking my blush wine in a highball glass.
Who made up the rule about cross at the green and not in between?
Got a free book at the library today:  Dutch, A Memoir of Ronald Reagan.
We're having angel hair pasta with clam sauce for dinner tonight.
It feels good to the body (but not the brain) to be in Florida right now.
Lojong slogan #56:  Experience your life.
Quiet, quiet in the neighborhood.
Phone calls with the kids on speaker phone.

- Rosanne Cassidy

It’s usually easiest to do the kindest thing. 
Don’t play chess and make breakfast at the same time. 
Hang out with kids. 
It’s raining.
I should do strength training, but I don’t. 
Nine pm is the best time to go to the grocery store.
I enjoy brief moments of being cold outside in winter. 
The door is stuck. 
The universe seems quite large. 
This is the last of my ten sentences. 

- Richard Chalmers

Misread

There’s a blue tit and a blackbird taking turns wheedling fat from the feeder.
Must lift the pelargoniums, get the rest of the onions in before it’s too late.
One day there will be far less laundry.
In a poem, I misread intense for tense, and it gave the line a whole new shade of meaning.
Despite the grey, and the quiet trees, I am held in warm socks and winter’s sleepy grasp.
Something innately strong in simply putting one foot in front of the other.
The pergola, silvered, holding up the wisteria’s spindly branches will be covered next spring.
Swimming, I forget everything, even why I do it.
That kid with the cough today, in the doctor’s office, and the pained concern on their parent’s face took me back.
Another year falls away and I am still learning to look more closely. 

- Leann Simmons

Cozy                                    

Two empty nests on the tall cat tree await nestling cats.
In the kitchen my man finishes his preparations for tomorrow’s early work day.
The lace curtains my mom gave me ripple and dance when the vent releases warm air.
On our front porch red and blue lights combine to create the magenta effect.
Snow collects and then scatters again.
The shadow face in the acrylic paint work I did soulfully gazes.
Creaking floor boards are speaking.
I take another sip of warming ginger tea
I create another poem. 

- Mariette Jones

perhaps in winter 

I’m seeing here we only have three minutes left - do you have time for more?
We will see you in the hospital this Christmas, just to hold your hand.
He’s only four, and so every time he has a snack, he wants you to have some too. 
Yesterday, a raccoon fell onto the subway tracks and made two hundred people late for work.
It is night-time in a memory, and I am falling asleep in your arms.
The lights from passing cars wrote us a poem in morse code. 
I have never been good at putting things away -  my own ghost haunts me daily. 
The thread knots itself, unless you let the needle rest. 
The stranger says: “Don’t forget your wallet on the bus seat. The city is hazardous these days.”
There are more colours in this world than we can see. 

- Miranda Ramnares

Musings

I wonder if it will rain today
I am excited to see what the Swedish Church Market is selling.
How will they manage at work without me today?
The super in my building excels at  rubbing me the wrong way.
The artificial flowers on my desk bring me so much joy.
What does the future hold? 
Will there ever be peace?
I can help people to brain storm, but they will need to find their own resolution.
I am not the same person I was eight years ago
In eight years I will likely have evolved to yet another iteration of myself. 

- Lisa Philip

The ceiling fan in my dear daughter’s room, click, click, click.
Whirr of a Council ride on mower, smoothing the park in anticipation.
Twenty-five degrees C at 7 am, dreading the stretch of hot days.
Relief promised for Christmas Day after the seer of 38C, 40C, 41C.
Handmade Festive cards, all glitter, felt, glue, friendship and love.
Brief letters scribed on pretty paper, penned by my own hand, a rarity
Ginger Cat Spice stretched flat in the cooling winds of a spinning fan.
Birds are quiet this morning, taking refuge in shady gums.
Work-related tasks beacon, resistance builds in every fibre.
Chai, loaded with cinnamon and spice and manuka honey. Yum.

- Karen Haddon

Before time, before tools, I strode beneath the African sky.

My lover dresses as a stick, a leaf, a flower, a soulful sinner, praying for forgiveness.
So much holiness and phoniness to sort through.
When we kissed, he turned me into Heqet, frog-headed princess.
He said, “I noticed you in your sea blue dress, your mermaid hair, your cormorant’s neck.”
I said, “Verify that you’re human.”
At the Brussels train station, we put our luggage and our previous lives in long-term storage.
The future is a back-handed promise.
On the last day, I will sit under a young, blushing maple and give thanks.
The dream pixilates, recedes.

-  Janet Carl

open tabs | open wounds

outside it’s begun to rain.
96% of Gaza children think death is imminent. 
darkness as: portal—a way in or through. 
ah, the surprising allure of ignorance. 
then he learned to really listen. 
what he found was often more devastating than he expected.
most people fail to understand the seriousness of our predicament. 
[horses] can focus on two objects at once, one from each eye. 
we need wisdom and courage for a world falling apart. 
and I (and hope you, too) am here for it.  

(a found poem from the many open tabs of my laptop, cutting and pasting, with only very small edits, to help the unread stories connect in my brain)  

- Susi Moser

Perfection is the enemy of completion. 
I want to spend my days studying the roots. 
The new crosswalk outside our house: "Warning lights are flashing."
At the age of 50, I learned what sugar plums are.  
The pantry is bursting with German chocolate. 
In Indiana, they are calling Hamas liberation fighters. 
The right and the left kiss in the mirror before smashing the glass. 
Today we gave the dog some antlers to chew. 
These lines were supposed to be unrelated. 
There's no escaping the connections between all things. 

- Jena Schwartz

Ten Lines in the Still-Dark Morning

The small dog on my lap moans when I move at all, his ears perking up as truck sounds rumble by somewhere on the nearby streets
This ache in my neck came from lifting the 15-pound weighted ball above my head, mostly because I love the release of slamming it down
I’ve had 3 shots of espresso and it’s not even 6AM
I keep telling people I’ve quit reading The New York times but still secretly scan the headlines every day when the emails come through, checking up on things I cannot control
I’m not sure why my son’s x-box constantly needs to be cooled by a fan, but it does
As much as I don’t want to buy things we don’t need, I also want my boys to wake up to shiny Christmas gifts they weren’t expecting
I fantasize about starting a sanctuary farm in Park County despite the high winds and potential for heartbreak
I dreamed about going to a wedding I wasn’t invited to last night, never finding quite the right outfit or making it to the ceremony
Teasing out the threads of fourth-step resentments feels like pulling your own teeth
I’ll always feel the most awake in my own house when everyone else is still sleeping 

- Jane Gregorie

The cellphone vibrates an unfamiliar number.
Rain slips off the roof top, trapped  in the crack of the eves trough.
I see her step off the sidewalk, a ray of sunshine across her face.
The last bite of the apple  just near the core,  tastes bitter. 
A siren sings in the background, cars are motionless.
The child is pulling at the tag on the tee shirt, like a dry leaf in the fall.
The sound of bath water is calling to dip one toe in.
Hot tea and fresh baked bread paints the room with a familiar warmth.
Another coat left on the floor, waiting to be picked up.
Chairs scattered, as the students leave the room. 

- Cooper Walls

Mid December 

An unfinished pine table honeys with age.
The i-pad charges for class today.
Traffic rumbles and rushes on Broadview.
One small brown bird runs between feet looking for crumbs outside Tim Horton’s.
Great fluffy wet snowflakes splat against my cheeks and glasses. 
The sound of muffled screen voices from the apartment above tell me a neighbour is home.
Chin rests on hand, on elbow, on table.
Cat nudges past and sits on prime real estate, sleeping and content.
Tea in the mug with a blue heart in pieces.
Down the rabbit hole of endless scrolling away from this raw being, 

- Carol Barrett

There are unexplained bruises on my body
Betrayal is a new emotion for me, one I managed to avoid experiencing for the first 64 years of my life
To do lists are never-ending, and they are a pain in the ass
Too many of my friends are dealing with serious health problems
I am grateful for the ability to enjoy my bowling leagues twice a week, for the joy of camaraderie, exercise, and interaction with friends
I have come to realize that getting older is much more expensive than I had previously thought
Reading is fundamental
Art provides connection to both reality and fantasy
I hope to come back to this earth as a house cat in my next life
I have yet to learn that I cannot be everything to everybody

- Stephanie Turman

My lap is warmed by Mini kitty sleeping soundly on it.
The little Christmas tree with brightly shining lights brings me joy.
It is feeling like winter as the temperatures outside are plummeting. 
Darkness comes early these days.
Swimming makes me feel relaxed and refreshed.
A Charlie Brown Christmas is a must see Christmas classic.
Chocolate is the best medicine after friends.
Wicked, the movie, was so good.
Photography is my passion.
Animals are my love.

- Jean Martell

I’m all over the place but I can see the tethers everywhere.
The cold penetrated my bones today after my swim.
I’m curious about her admission that maybe she’s been keeping a boundary.
The white lights on the tree are bringing an extra dose of much-needed magic.
The things we said to each other in the Gatehouse feel like mulch.
Spring is too far in the distance from here. 
Going with the flow is harder than it sounds.
There is something comforting about wearing a jumpsuit, maybe it reminds me of pajamas.
I need to practice better breathing in the pool.
I need to practice breathing better everywhere. 

- Amy Tingle

not isolated

The beginning is quiet, intentional, holy.
Last night, the moon was a sliver but luminous indeed.
I exhale as I write that.
As of now, there’s no state tax on digital files.
And now though: where are the stories?
See how it goes, see how it feels, there’s no other way.
Heading to the grocery store, feeling pressed for time.
I'll make him an egg sandwich with the leftover biscuit.
I am not an isolated event.
We are sweeter for the breathing in of another. 

- Michelle GD