I TOOK A SHORT WALK by Lisa O'Neil-Guerci I heard the music of wind and water as I took a short walk today. Nature had graciously asked if I wanted to join in their afternoon of play. I might have known I'd step into their home- that they of course would become the words of another autumnal poem. That I'd come upon and smile to see a heart-shaped yellow leaf propped against an oak tree~ both seeming to be waiting patiently for me. I should have guessed that sorghum and cattails would be slow dancing with each other... of course they would~ it was clear to see they're longtime friends turned lovers. I then inclined my gaze upwards towards branches which held the sun tenderly in their arms. A few leaves were stained with the first blood of the season's russet hue it shouldn't surprise me that the afternoon sky would be so perfectly blue~ and that the white lambs of clouds would scatter... changing shape as the breeze coaxed them along~
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following poem, by Sarah Carlson, was composed shortly after the deadliest shooting in Lewiston, Maine, U.S.A. on October 25, 2023 , in which 18 people were fatally shot, and 13 others were left injured. As of 2023, it was the 10th deadliest mass shooting in U.S history. The Fog of Mourning with love to my home state of Maine by Sarah Carlson We know what we know. People were slain. People were injured. People experienced terror. We are hurting. We wait and wonder. I had a sudden rush of tangled emotions this morning after I read about the tender beings who were killed in Lewiston. I feel such empathy for them, for their families, for those who shared in their lives. And then it went deeper as the words “there one minute, gone the next” meandered through my mind. Though it has been years, and my husband died peacefully, I can relate to a normal day that ends with sudden, catastrophic loss. At first I felt guilty. What right do I have to cry about my o