Sending News
A letter arrives in the mail
Another message of stamps
I do not recognize what names
The sender exactly,
though it is similar to an old friend’s
Has she married? I wonder,
So I call, and hear
It is not that friend, but another
Who’s cancer has moved her into hospice
And a six month countdown
That may be longer
Or shorter without chemo this time
This is all very surreal
After the call
To notice how tragically normal
The news seems, although it is not good
This is frequent, now,
The turning of health and life
Becomes one in the ebb and flow
With time
With so many losses of so many
Friends, this crab devours life
Claiming its presence among us
Reality in this mist
Is everchanging as tideflowing time
There is much to do between the high and low
The boats to tie
Nets to throw and then secure
Colors of the setting sun, stars rising to watch
Before the shore is too dark to find our way home
Everyday becomes someday
And, somedays all you can do is catch fish in sun
While otherdays you build castles chasing crabs in the sand
Crushing exoskeletons under your heel
Noticing the texture, the shape of each seashell
And how the pattern of many glistens in profound randomness
Manydays, though you walk along the sand
Cursing that constellation
A single set of prints where there should be two
headed towards the postbox
Powerless to do anything, except to send poems
Kelli Parrish
© 2006
