first,
percussive sound,
then cold on fingers
becomes warm,
becomes hot.
water runs
down back
muscles lose
tension, arc
into stream
one
with the water
with the warm of it
with the wash—
morning shower.

I wanted to write about seeing things, without the metaphor or simile as suggested by today’s guest post but my brain remains jangled by a recalcitrant smoke alarm that is having issues today. No smoke or fire, just the darned noise!

Day 15 False Alarm

in this silence, there should be peace
more precious after frantic hours
fighting angry smoke alarm
chanting its lies two floors below

without fire to fuel its chatter
perhaps it chirps to prove its voice
but my focus is splintered,
still on edge and waiting
for another chorus of worry and fret

Carol A. Stephen

I was getting away the last couple of days or so from the spirit of small attentions. The first thing that caught my eye this morning as I woke, were the high dark clouds, and beneath them the lightening sky.

January 14

night lifts itself, slow,
from early morning sky
black segues to paler black,
then grey.

by ten, blue breaks
through clouds, ending the white
that has fallen on the roof for days.

Carol A. Stephen

Most days my cat sits on my desk and I have to peer around him to see what’s on my screen.  Seemed like a small stone that I have not been paying enough attention to, so here is today’s observation of Tojo.

Tojo: guardian, critic, actor, god?

This sleek Siamese fails his true cat reputation,
not one stand-offish bone in his lithe form.
in porcelain-cat pose, he supervises every click
of keyboard, shields my eyes from harmful monitor rays.

a permanent cat-shape embeds itself centre-screen.
He censors television, too, but I wonder,
is he really saving me, or does he have some hidden
longing to be a feline star of stage and screen?

Or, is he really saying Look at me and worship?

Carol A. Stephen