Relinquishment
Sometimes letting go is a decision:
boxes of old correspondence,
black and white unlabeled photos of unfamiliar faces,
drawers of too-tight, faded message tee shirts,
worn-out running shoes,
unused china and fancy crystal,
my deceased parents’ medical records,
threadbare fitted flannel sheets with unrepairable holes.
Other times, loss is foisted upon us:
shortness of breath,
worsening heart murmur,
ability to hike steep wilderness trails,
dementia riddled relatives,
frost-ravaged garden,
stiff, arthritic fingers,
deaths from covid and cancer,
end of my family’s line.
Each day, I give thanks
to be on this side of the earth,
still able to walk and scribble,
despite escalating infirmities,
appreciate what remains.
Jennifer Lagier lives a block from the stage where Bob Dylan and Joan Baez performed at the Monterey Folk Festival in 1963 and Jimi Hendrix torched his guitar in 1967. She served as Area Coordinator and an instructor with California Poets in the Schools. Jennifer has published twenty-five books and has work appearing in a variety of anthologies and literary magazines. A former editor for the Homestead Review, she now edits the Monterey Poetry Review and helps publicize Monterey Bay Poetry Consortium readings. Website: jlagier.net, Facebook: www.facebook.com/JenniferLagier/
Sometimes letting go is a decision:
boxes of old correspondence,
black and white unlabeled photos of unfamiliar faces,
drawers of too-tight, faded message tee shirts,
worn-out running shoes,
unused china and fancy crystal,
my deceased parents’ medical records,
threadbare fitted flannel sheets with unrepairable holes.
Other times, loss is foisted upon us:
shortness of breath,
worsening heart murmur,
ability to hike steep wilderness trails,
dementia riddled relatives,
frost-ravaged garden,
stiff, arthritic fingers,
deaths from covid and cancer,
end of my family’s line.
Each day, I give thanks
to be on this side of the earth,
still able to walk and scribble,
despite escalating infirmities,
appreciate what remains.
Jennifer Lagier lives a block from the stage where Bob Dylan and Joan Baez performed at the Monterey Folk Festival in 1963 and Jimi Hendrix torched his guitar in 1967. She served as Area Coordinator and an instructor with California Poets in the Schools. Jennifer has published twenty-five books and has work appearing in a variety of anthologies and literary magazines. A former editor for the Homestead Review, she now edits the Monterey Poetry Review and helps publicize Monterey Bay Poetry Consortium readings. Website: jlagier.net, Facebook: www.facebook.com/JenniferLagier/
