A little time, and then....

I'm taking some time off from the blog while I move and reorganize my office. I think we all know how easy it is convince ourselves that we can "do while..."  I can do this while I do that. I can move and reorganize my office while I continue my full work schedule... Some days I think I would be wise to realize that I am, at times, the little engine that shouldn't!  So, I'm taking a deep breath and "swimming upstream," against my own delusions and work urges, and will go quiet for a while here and on my other blog, with a promise to return by April's end, if not sooner.

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Refiner's Fire

This poem by Donal Mahoney takes a snapshot of a life-changing moment. The image appears fast, fierce to the mind's eye, and clear; but this poem has a way of lingering with me quietly, even after I turn away from the bright picture it creates in my mind, and leads me to remember times when a loss has provided a cleansing or even transformational experience. 

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I stood in the alley, still

in pajamas, somebody’s shoes,

another man’s coat, my eyes

on the bronc of the hoses.

Squawed in the blankets of neighbors,

my wife and three children sipped

chocolate, stood orange and still.

Of the hundred or more I had stored

in a drawer, I could remember,

comma for comma, no more than four,

none of them final,

all of them fetal.

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Poem, copyright Donal Mahoney, all rights reserved.

Donal Mahoney has had work published in a variety of print and electronic publications in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. He is a frequent contributor to this blog.