Lost
He sits on the edge of our bed
wearing only jockey shorts
and a ragged, gray sweatshirt,
stares into the room,
vacant expression in his hazel eyes.
I ask, Are you O.K.?
He turns his head slowly
in my direction, ponders the question,
looks at me as if I were
a stranger on a street corner
and he had lost his way.
Yeah, he finally answers in a voice
as thin as high altitude air.
He used to climb mountains.
As I watch him finally lie down,
slip into a morning nap,
I find myself hoping he is not
really lost, just absent for a while,
as he secures the piton in a crack,
pulls himself up a few feet
closer to the peak.
Kate thinks she began writing poetry in utero. She has been doing so ever since and has been published in many journals, anthologies and chapbooks. She has published three children's books: Joey’s Way (MacMillan); What Will You Be, Sara Mee (Charlesbridge, Boston);We Are All Related (Kindle Direct Publishing/Amazon). She co-edited the new anthology Second Wind: Words & Art of Hope & Resilience. Blue Light Press will publish her poetry book, Arms of my Longing, in 2021.
Kate is the founder of Blue Moon Creations, an artistic endeavor benefitting causes/charities both locally and globally. She lives at the edge of the redwood forest in Aptos, CA.
He sits on the edge of our bed
wearing only jockey shorts
and a ragged, gray sweatshirt,
stares into the room,
vacant expression in his hazel eyes.
I ask, Are you O.K.?
He turns his head slowly
in my direction, ponders the question,
looks at me as if I were
a stranger on a street corner
and he had lost his way.
Yeah, he finally answers in a voice
as thin as high altitude air.
He used to climb mountains.
As I watch him finally lie down,
slip into a morning nap,
I find myself hoping he is not
really lost, just absent for a while,
as he secures the piton in a crack,
pulls himself up a few feet
closer to the peak.
Kate thinks she began writing poetry in utero. She has been doing so ever since and has been published in many journals, anthologies and chapbooks. She has published three children's books: Joey’s Way (MacMillan); What Will You Be, Sara Mee (Charlesbridge, Boston);We Are All Related (Kindle Direct Publishing/Amazon). She co-edited the new anthology Second Wind: Words & Art of Hope & Resilience. Blue Light Press will publish her poetry book, Arms of my Longing, in 2021.
Kate is the founder of Blue Moon Creations, an artistic endeavor benefitting causes/charities both locally and globally. She lives at the edge of the redwood forest in Aptos, CA.