Walks

by Susie Sweetland Garay

Bless the moon in her
consistency
and cycles
and the insanity that she
brings to us all.

I wonder sometimes
why I want so badly
for there
to be a plan.
A right answer
amidst all the options.

Most choices are so much
less significant then we make them.

But I suppose I prefer to worry.

The other day we got in the car
and drove almost a full hour to
photograph something which
has been photographed at least
a million times before.

I suppose I believe
we each have a unique eye
and I wanted to know what mine would sees.

I do not go on my walks
alone anymore.
Not ever.

It is always us,
exploring together.
Learning to notice.

I think how she will grow
up noticing and
watching me
notice.

Our education is two fold
as both are teacher and taught.

Some days
I’m sure
I am invisible.

But not today.

Puzzle

by Susie Sweetland Garay

Here we are
struggling to
make the pieces fit
like some
oversized puzzle
Ancients left for us
in the desert
with so many
possibilities
no one will ever
agree on its
meaning or
significance.

Maybe we are
all right. And
all perishable
like a fading
star, burning
itself out,
or farm house
taken back by
the life
surrounding
her.

We walk over
hallowed ground,
touch stone that
has been carefully
placed and shaped,
created for some
Godly purpose
we no longer
understand.

The words we
speak are hollow.
No one here
is as brave
or lovely
as we once
thought we were.

Naked

by Susie Sweetland Garay

Surely, she thinks, they will
believe that a woman
with nothing on
has nothing to hide.
That she is harmless.

But they only seem to find her
more sinister for her
nakedness.