Saturday

HEADING DOODLING BACK

it was a sky blue
Saturday

gainfully spent marketing
... and yet ...
blissfully, 
frittered away

drifting in aromas
and wafts of sweet bouquets
and seas of produce,
 teas and spices ...
and trays and trays

of fresh baked cookies ...
fresh baked pastries ...
fresh baked cakes, pies,
buns and breads ...

crocks and bins of antipasta ...
olives, oils ... and herbed spreads

we purchased
capellina and parmigiana,
we would toss ...
with molto grande meatballs,
in thick tomato homemade sauce ...

and a bottle of Chianti
and spumoni ice cream cones ...
and a dozen bright white dahlias
to light our way back home

photos:  Saturday - top 2 pics taken at Granville Island Public Market, Vancouver - W. Bourke

© 2013 Wendy Bourke

accommodations

a splitter of a headache ... again tonight ... which I
hardly ever got ... until lately, when ... I drink red wine ...
though now, it arrives ... more often - than not ... like a
jackbooted bogeyman ... on a tear ... on the heels of
just a glass ... with spaghetti a polpette ... or beautiful
music ... or layered conversation or light jocularity ...
those lovely evenings ... that sparkled with glints from
the ruby red drops of a bordeaux, a beaujolais ... or,
a chianti ... have commenced pounding to the finish line

so that, I'm unlikely to enjoy red wine ever again ...
another accommodation on the path from carefree
youth ... to middle age ... to ancient ... to death ...

so many accommodations along that path, where

even sleep,  no longer ... simply ... sweeps in upon
nightfall breezes ... but rather, is accompanied by
a cup of camomile tea ... and the white noise of rain
on a tin roof, or sounds of sea ... head-phoned into me,
as I sip on teaspoons of oxygen and wait ... hopefully ...
for happy-go-lucky dreams, to carry me away to that
place that transcends physicality and bubbles with
childlike anticipation of what lies ahead ... tomorrow

photo:  Italian Meal from a 2013 post, I will repost next week - W. Bourke

© 2018 Wendy Bourke 

in the remnants of a day

my hand lotion is the fragrance of lilacs and the scent
carries me – momentarily – to my old wooden steps,
as it streams in white rivers across my dry etched hands

on a table, aside a grocery store bouquet, a basket of quilt
pieces, wait to become patchwork ... soon it will be another
unfinished thing on a long list of things I never finished

breezes billow the curtains into soft gossamer balloons ...
I imagine the whiffle wafts ... in pellucid ribbons ... the slow
shushes of an oscillating sprinkler exhales across  the still

this is the scene in which I sit, the place where I take pause,
in the sweet, familiar  redolence of the remnants of a day ...
just now, noticing my baby's hair has started to turn gray

photos:  (top) Remnants of a Day (bottom) my oldest son at 5 months - W. Bourke

© 2018 Wendy Bourke 

this inspiriting day

days
without a lot
of directions to go in,
are the best days,
I have found
to, quietly, come upon
an opening
                                             a chasm in the cluttered
                                                      labyrinth of choices

days
like this day, today ...
the kind of day
I liken to
                                             the gap, awaiting the turn of a page,
                                                      at the end of a chapter ...

such a day
though, seemingly, empty
and without purpose
                                             obliges me to pause and be
                                                      in the moment 
and let go ...
in white space ...
and breathe 
                                             and feel content and gently settled 
                                                      and inspirited 
                                                                                                                 
photo:  Wild Pacific Trail, Ucluelet, BC - B. Bourke 

© 2018 Wendy Bourke

Blessing in Disguise

HEAD DOODLING BACK

They catch each little misstep
and with kindly, caring grace—
they point out the right direction
by gently getting in your face.

And just in case, you’ve overlooked
that vexsome fatal flaw,
they take the time—to point it out:
deftly hid, midst blah-blah-blah.

They’re sweet and giving—to a fault
and seldom dally to dispense
the inestimable value
of putting in—their own two cents.

And yet, despite the flak—and knack
for getting underneath your skin,
when you bring a big mess to their door:
family lets you in.

note:  published on the website of the The Society of Classical Poets, April 2017.

photo:  Little White House in Deer Lake Park - W. Bourke

© 2013 Wendy Bourke

a ramble in the ruins

I have been trying to work on letters I will leave to my dearly beloveds ... 
to be read, privately, at the time of my passing ... by way of softening what,
I've no doubt, will be a lackluster laying to rest ... having wandered 
most of my days and arriving – by circumstance and not design – at this place ...
thousands of miles from most of those I've embraced along the path

and so, I will leave my nomadic family, quietly and without fanfare ...
though, a final 'shush now, all is well' ... perhaps, by way of
some kind of closure for them ... seems, the motherly thing to do 

in this attempt, I have discovered that events and revelations and insights and feelings
do not organize themselves into anything resembling a 'most-to-least-impactful' order ...
nor do they bubble forth like a well honed script ... with meaningful scenes
for each letter recipient, floating onto the page

thus, the task is proving to be elusive ... for the journey comes to me in fragments,
like pebbles at the feet of ancient ruins ... the layers of context, that – in the moment – 
was everything ... have,  by now, crumbled away

and it is left to me to try and gather up the bits of stone and attempt to string them,
one by one upon a thread ... to put the echoes and indelible images ... into words
that will soothe and reassure my children ... who I know will care ... 
that I lived a, mostly, lovely life

photo: The Parthenon (an enduring symbol of Ancient Greece, Athenian democracy and Western civilization) - M.J. Bourke (while visiting Greece in 1968)

© 2018 Wendy Bourke

white phantom in the parking lot

by early afternoon ...
the day
which had begun
anomalously
to the sound of pelting hail
on window pane

 – awakening me
hours before
I had planned
to awaken –

pitter-pattered on
in misty raindrops
and the groggy vestiages
of a hard night's sleep
– cut short –

and I found myself –
as I rested in the car
while he ran down
the last of the errands –

in that space
I imagine
is preliminary to
out-of-body

where perception
becomes that
of spectator
in a waking dream –

I was about to
lay my head back
with the aim
of a catnap when

I spied
a  white plastic  bag
in the drizzle

 ... floating and spinning ...
above the parking lot –

I half closed
my tired eyes and
the empty bag
became 
as ethereal as
a phantom –

it soared
and twirled
landing
in grand jetés
amongst
the cars and bins and
rows of shopping carts –

taking
– mesmerizing – 
flight again 
and again

until at last
it was captured
by a gust of wind
and carried up
and up ... and up ...
higher and higher –

by then
I had forgotten
it was just
an empty bag –

and I went with it ...
for a time

photo: White Phantom in the Parking Lot   - W. Bourke

© 2018 Wendy Bourke

al·lit·er·a·tion

all her life, my Mother had a Pen Pal in Portsmouth, who, through the miracle of happenstance, was named Pauline ... and thus, from time to time, the words,
"I've a letter from my Pen Pal  Pauline, in Portsmouth", would putt-putt-putt across
the ordinary ... tickling a moment ... and evoking giggles from we-two

alliteration can be wonderful when words fall – by chance – into splendid cascades
of kindred consonants ... I love the ripple of similar sounds – the patter of thrums –
the pop and sizzle ... as alliteration injects humor, creates rhythm, bestows symmetry,
alters mood ... or simply signals:  something sinister is skulking in the shadows

I think that we are born loving alliteration ... it fills children's verse and storybooks
and is the stuff of childhood games and riddles and tongue twisters – and yet, alliteration
is really at its most magical, when words find each other and come together, as if
under a spell ... crackling in conversations ... or in a poem ... serendipitously

too different, perhaps, to enjoy a like-minded sense of humor, my Mom and I both
'got'  alliteration ... it was as though, an artfully word-smithed run of harmonious phonemes was the one thing we  could agree, was fantastic ... and often, funny ... and so ... 
we hung on to that ... fervently ... right through, to the end of the story

note:  al·lit·er·a·tion - əˌlidəˈrāSH(ə)n:  the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

photo: of me, with card or letter in hand - around age 4, I think - probably taken by Mom

© 2018 Wendy Bourke

Heavy Steps - A Tankart Piece

A light post on – what for some of us – is the start of a busy Easter long weekend.  This tankart began as a picture I took (many years ago) of one of my grandsons, as he struggled to walk in a pair of his Dad's business shoes.    I treated the photo with various photo editing techniques until it resembled a sketch, more than a photograph.  The words came to me, almost immediately, but I felt that the picture would not lend itself to having words superimposed on it – as is the case with haiga and tanka art work – and so, initially, it served as inspiration for a humorous piece.  But the words were 'on my mind' and finally, I decided to add them, below the picture ... and submitted it to Skylark Journal, where is was published in the Winter 2017, 5.2 Issue.

The internet and cell phone camera, have put images – and imagery – before us, like never before.   All of which has prompted me to contemplate the fascinating – and thought provoking – interplay between our photography and art and, indeed, the art we discover ... and how that influences our creative process, and ultimately imbues our poetry.  

Tankart:  Heavy Steps - Wendy Bourke 

© 2017 Wendy Bourke

Chance Encounter – A Tanka Prose Piece

Running into someone that you know – in this town of millions – hardly ever happens.  It is such a rare event, that I find myself inclined to believe that, something akin to divine intervention must be involved. 

I hadn't seen her in years ... a by-gone co-worker from a long-ago office.   The last time we had talked, was over the phone.  She had called to cancel an, ever elusive, lunch date.  Her son was sick.

Time passed and we never did 'catch up' to each other again.

"I can't believe it's you," she effused,  as we were about to pass by – coming and going – on a suburban Skytrain Station platform.

"Wow!  What a wonderful surprise," I responded, equally pleased.  'How are the boys?" 

"They're good – they're great – teenagers, now.  You know, I think about you, all the time.  I think about what you said to me the last time we spoke.  Do you remember?"  I shook my head and she replied.  "You said:  things are almost never as bad as our worst imaginings.  My baby was sick and you said, if you can get him down to sleep, try to rest  ...  things are almost never as bad as our worst imaginings.   And you were right – I have found that to be so true.  I think about those words, all the time.  I worry so much ... about stuff ... about my kids – I worry too much.  But  then I tell myself:  things are almost never as bad as our worst imaginings."   

"That sounds like something I'd have said ... I think that – a lot."

"The curse of a vivid imagination," she laughed.  

"And a restless mind," I added.  " I so envy those lucky souls, who can just" – I thought for a moment – "you know ... park it ... all that nigaling angst." 

"I'll bet the 'parkers' don't write nearly as much poetry as the 'angsters' do," she teased, "another reason why I think of you, so often ... you got me started – getting it out on paper.  I can't tell you what that has meant to me.  But, I know, you know."  She grinned  and then  sighing, rather wistfully, remarked, "We have got to get together for that long overdue lunch ... one of these days."

The screech and squeal of a train braking as it whooshed into the station – broke the moment.  

"So lovely to have run into you," I said, signaling the end of our chance encounter with a brief, but affectionate hug ...  She turned towards the train, and then, glancing back and smiling, she walked away .... both of us, I think, suspecting, that – chances are – we will never meet again. 

                                              a chance encounter
                                              at a train station ...
                                              we part
                                              carrying each other's words
                                              in different directions


photo:  Sky Train Station (photo edited) Vancouver BC - W. Bourke

© 2018 Wendy Bourke