Here is the latest installment of Poet’s Corner, presented by the Edmonds-based EPIC Poetry Group.

Lenox

I emptied the heavy Lenox plates
from your China cabinet

Ten creamy place settings
rimmed with pure gold.

I thought of the Passover Seders,
Thanksgiving and Christmas meals

How much you created.

My fat tears
smeared the ink in the notebook
you left next to your chair.

You wrote that the Lenox
should be given to my daughter,
the first granddaughter.

Who cares for the stories?

The photographers and writers,
and those who plan the gatherings,
those bequeathed with
essences to be remembered.
The sacred circles and lineages of Women.

The details settle with the ash and dust
watering themselves through the grass to the soil
becoming one with the earth and the trees,
the flowers and the poems.

The air smells like lilacs again
and butterflies play
the Lennox on her table reflects the spring sun
and the weight of the heirlooms and tragedies,
and the love that she now carries forward.

Alison Ersfeld

~ ~ ~ ~

Mourning

Menorah candles burn
Consider miracles.

Not enough pause when your father, or someone dies

life starts again each day

you still breathe.

Absence is ever-present.

Grief and tears are gratitude disguised
for having known
the sweetness of love
is a true miracle.

Alison Ersfeld

~ ~ ~ ~

Ali teaches creative writing, mythology and English at Meadowdale High School where she works collaboratively with students to create the school’s art and literary magazine. Ali is also a yoga instructor at Bindi Yoga in Lynwood and enjoys facilitating workshops that combine the deeply reflective practices of yoga and writing. She is currently the VP of Development for EPIC Group Writers and will be judging the Epic Group Writers 2022 Writing Contest (adult poetry).

Published work: Unmasked Magazine, EPIC Group Writers 2018 Contest winner (second place-poetry).