everything feeds process

6:10 PM

On the slick sidewalk, an upturned fast food cup spills soda in a frozen brown slush. My fingers burn and numb from the cold and I try not to imagine the blood in my hands crystallizing, slowly turning solid.

***

After an eight day (ugh) hiatus, I am back in the river.

This micropoem is part of A River of Stones International Small Stone Writing Month, hosted by Fiona and Kaspa. The goal of the project is for participants to create one small stone (a recorded moment of mindful observation) each day in January.

9:18 AM

Outside, I pace my exhalations
so that a curl of condensation winds
between crystalline flurries.

A yellow, extinguished Marlboro butt
discarded on the sidewalk reminds me
of the years I smoked just to keep warm.

***

This micropoem is part of A River of Stones International Small Stone Writing Month, hosted by Fiona and Kaspa. The goal of the project is for participants to create one small stone (a recorded moment of mindful observation) each day in January.

9:40 PM

Boiling cranberries in maple syrup,
I wait for the skins
to split open, for the berries
to burst and send
a plume of perfumed steam
to fog my glasses.

***

This micropoem is part of A River of Stones‘ International Small Stone Writing Month, hosted by Fiona and Kaspa. The goal of the project is for participants to create one small stone (a recorded moment of mindful observation) each day in January.

9:10 PM

You wet the edge
of the wonton wrapper with your finger,
before filling the skin.

You fold and crimp the dumpling
into a half-moon, then arrange
them on a greased baking sheet.

I love watching you cook.

***

This micropoem is part of A River of Stones‘ International Small Stone Writing Month, hosted by Fiona and Kaspa. The goal of the project is for participants to create one small stone (a recorded moment of mindful observation) each day in January.

7:05 PM

Standing in my kitchen, guzzling sugary peanuts, I swallow my week-old resolutions.

***

This micropoem is part of A River of Stones‘ International Small Stone Writing Month, hosted by Fiona and Kaspa. The goal of the project is for participants to create one small stone (a recorded moment of mindful observation) each day in January.

3:37 PM

Signing thirty letters by hand,
I watch the loops and streaks
of my signature shift.

Each version is different.

My name contracts here, exhales
and expands there. I want to know
how each of these thirty women
pronounce our name.

***

This micropoem is part of A River of Stones‘ International Small Stone Writing Month, hosted by Fiona and Kaspa. The goal of the project is for participants to create one small stone (a recorded moment of mindful observation) each day in January.

4:49 PM

In a sea of black hats and bowed heads, I track her lilac bandana as it bobs and weaves. Together, we float the whole way home.

***

This micropoem is part of A River of Stones‘ International Small Stone Writing Month, hosted by Fiona and Kaspa. The goal of the project is for participants to create one small stone (a recorded moment of mindful observation) each day in January.

9:50 AM

I watch a murder of crows
roost on a rooftop, one block away.
They settle like a series of ellipses
on a blank page.

Beneath my many layers, the cold
burns through my fingertips.
I wonder how long I’ll carry
winter with me like this.

***

This micropoem is part of A River of Stones‘ International Small Stone Writing Month, hosted by Fiona and Kaspa. The goal of the project is for participants to create one small stone (a recorded moment of mindful observation) each day in January.

12:07 PM

At the light rail stop, the woman in the red parka hocks and spits, hocks and spits. The wind smells like wood smoke, as she paves a slick of ice around her.

***

This micropoem is part of A River of Stones‘ International Small Stone Writing Month, hosted by Fiona and Kaspa. The goal of the project is for participants to create one small stone (a recorded moment of mindful observation) each day in January.

12:49 PM

Frost forms a mountain range on the window pane. Condensation melt peaks and valleys on the obscured glass.

***

This micropoem is part of A River of Stones‘ International Small Stone Writing Month, hosted by Fiona and Kaspa. The goal of the project is for participants to create one small stone (a recorded moment of mindful observation) each day in January.