A couple of new poems from this week.
Dimmed and Extinguished
Tears and more tears
the blotchy red-faced kind of sobbing
that embarasses everyone who sees it
She cries into the ashes of the cigarette
she has forgotten she is holding
It’s not her fault but no one knows any of that
Yet. Her mother
a caring soul when she has to be
looks away and pats her on the back
The unset topaz
glitters in its tray lined with black velvet
poised as if to speak and then deciding not to.
3/4/22
Shadorma 392
Ask the birds
in which direction
I should fly
so as not
to end up too far from here
ever to return
3/4/22
Claudia McGill Writes Poetry, Did You Know That? 
The shadorma makes me wonder if asking the birds is the best course of action… the crows always tell their truth which may not be your truth….
Well, you can always ask the experts but you do have to evaluate it for yourself, that is true.
They seem to fit the mood of the current times.
There’s a heavy load on us all these days, each and every one of us trying to carry it and help others. I guess it has its influence, yes, oh yes.
Yes, definitely.
Glorious thought, to ask the birds this.
I don’t know about many types of birds, but I see sparrows, chickadees, blue jays, robins, cardinals – and a couple of woodpeckers – outside my house every day. Oh, and mourning doves, too. And crows…I feel that in my next life I would really like to be a bird.