Photo and installation by Meg Duguid

We have lungs that breathe
As happy hearts pump red blood
Through our joyous veins.

Souls that yearn brightly,
Friends knowing a heartfelt laugh,
Children who love us.

Unexpected, these
Wondrous happenings, by design
Are called miracles.

Charlene James-Duguid
Amissville, Virginia
December 26, 2018

A pint-sized Socrates
Returned from an
Enlightening morning,
her first-day-ever at the
Pre-school academy,
Mira positioned her lawn chair on the sun deck,
Stirred her pretend herbal tea,
And cogitated on the wonders
Of the universe.

She must devour more
Thermodynamics by tomorrow
When she, and her new friends
Will gather at the water fountain
To demonstrate their dexterity
In its use.

Life is strenuous, even with
Unbounded three-year-old energy.

Sometimes you just have to take a spell
To meditate on existence, stir your tea
For new insights, hear the murmur of
The wind in the cedar tree,
Close your eyes,
And nod off for a nap.

Charlene James-Duguid
Amissville, Virginia
12/23/18

A twice-sized serving of a double chocolate brownie
Smothered in a giant infusion of
Halved, chopped walnuts
Nestled in vanilla bean ice cream
(Might be fat and sugar free)
Covered with thin slices of banana
And slathered in a lava of caramel syrup.

What better way to start a day.
When
Midwinter’s holiday doldrums
Are
Here with no anticipated
Salvaging guests.

Notice
Alongside this repast
An empty bowl reserved for boredom.
It
Sits and waits.

Two unlikely books plucked from a tumbling-full
Shelf
Too much like me, are over-stuffed, overdone,
Out of sorts, and destined to fill a cranky day.
No solution here.

Try following the first morning serving
With another
For no reason than there is nothing left to do.

Drop the guise of a cold or flu
Proclaim it a lost day.
Be determined to start the next year with resolve.
Determination
Prune juice
Elliptical
Yoga mat
Meditation
Calendar well-manicured
Nails dually trimmed
While remembering how exciting it was
Believing
Old-fashioned
New Year’s Resolutions
Could turn your life around.

Charlene James-Duguid
Amissville, Virginia
12/23/18

Like a Broadway Revival waiting its turn,
“Please” and “Thank You”
Wait in the wings.
Special purpose words, honorifics of a sort
Paving the way for smiles and success.
Who owns them?
Everyone, you and I,
Trillions of living and long-past gone.
Origins in strange forgotten tongues
Skipping through a curlicue alphabet,
Into thoughts of multitudes
They must travel from minds with purposed intent,
Past heads ablaze with gratitude,
To lips, air sufficient to explode,
Making courtesy the order of the day.
A nod, a wink, a cockeyed grin
Confirms society agrees,
You got it right.

Charlene James-Duguid
Amissville, Virginia
12/16/18

For Sweet Maggie

Some lucky miss, a beauty
Among the rare persimmons, enjoys her
world.

Always exciting, ever surprising.
Laughing
Persimmon, as exotic as a voyage
To some far kingdom, forgotten by others,
No memory except her own.

Cloaking the delectable self
In a story, demanding the tale be told.
Yet, never to betray her inner mirth.

Standing for herself,
Grand, suggesting taste,
Nectaring each slice of apple it kisses.
Oriental, orange, mishapened so slightly.
No need for the magic of becoming.
Pure nature always in its fruit.
Unsung.

Charlene James-Duguid
Amissville, Virginia
12/16/18