Author: Susan Manners

Wafting love

Rich dark coffee steams, wafting love. The sound of familiar soft feet dashing up cedar steps is my daily relief, knowing he’s safe. His tabby lost to gray in the near dark. “Good morning, good morning, good morning. Is this my kitty?” I hold him like a baby rubbing his soft fur neck. Crickets’ rhythm radiates and sets this morning’s tone while a single edgy crow blasts caws over cricket din. “How was your night? Did you have any adventures?” I kiss his head and set him free.  Alone I retreat to the awakening day.  Three distinct bird songs play over the cricket beat while illumination creep reveals cotton-ball clouds. A winged orchestra tunes, filling the stillest of still as sky streaks welcoming pink. Rich dark coffee steams, wafting love 

Flow

“Flow like water through the alders”
The guide stood ten feet higher on the trail
Heavy shrubs obscured our way up
Perched gingerly on the rocky path
Impenetrable viney thick green behind
She waved her arms hula dancer style
“Flow like water” she repeated and turned
Stooping as she disappeared into the brush
Following tight I flowed low and high
Streaming up the steep mountain slope
Traversing the dark dense thicket
Lush alpine tundra awaiting our delivery
Flowing like water through the alders

Dream Fog

Immersed in kaleidoscopic granite truth
Just over there floats the intricate story
As widening eyes accelerate sad departure
Leaving full sensation and leaking particulars
Beyond reach as cloudy ghosts dance
Lush details race through a hedgerow maze
Fading veiled memory sprinkles foggy crumbs
Weighty yearning loss
Waking’s cost