Moment of Shine

Every winter when my sisters and I unpacked the ornaments to our Christmas tree, there was one we always searched for in particular. We gave this ornament a place of honor in the center of the tree where everyone could see it. It wasn't expensive or made of blown glass, but a homemade silk and styrofoam bauble that grew just a little bit shabbier with each year, losing beads and splitting into frizzy threads. Still, it has always been my favorite ornament because I thought it looked like Cinderella's coach, or the dream of it. I hung Cinderella's coach on my own tree for the first time this year, carefully angling it so that only the good sides showed. Dreams fray with time, too, but we still angle them to catch the best light; a brief moment of shine.

Autumn Ode

 Rubifolium

As trees lose their summer-time silhouette,

I slim, too—

Undone by Autumn,

Stripped into a colored frenzy

Of wings.

As the wind scatters my soul
Across the pavement,

My mind skitters into gullies and corners,

Heaping up hopes like dried vermillion. 

S.P.

*A poem I wrote a few years ago, 

a picture I took a few days ago,

All things come back to red.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was always a big production in my family. Towards the end of September, we'd decorate the house with jack-o-lanterns, ghosts, witches, fall leaves, spider webs and spooky candles. At night, my dad would tell my sisters and I scary stories by the flickering lights of the pumpkins. My mom would make us awesome costumes from thrift store finds and old clothes: Gypsy Fortune Teller, Miss Moffett, Sorceress, Witch, Calamity Jane, and Princess Leia--I've become them all for one night a year.

However, I must confess that my Princess Leia costume complete with lopsided buns was one of my favorite get ups. As a child I was just a tad obsessed with Star Wars; green was my favorite color (note the fabulous green outfit) because that was the color of Luke's (second) light saber!

But this year I am celebrating my other sci fi obsession: one slightly wrinkled Star Trek selfie for 2015! Live long and prosper, folks. May the candies be with you.

P.S. Please enjoy this spooktacular Halloween poem, "The Ghost of a Flower."