Summer Solstice 2022

 

Untitled — Entanglement 

MixedMedia on Paper

May 2022 — 30” x 12”

Ruth Ann Howden 

WORD SALAD

A salad, best fresh 

full of surprises like pickled beet, 

crunch of cucumber or celery, 

savory dressing, topped with pop of cherry tomato

A poem, best marinated 

in considered combinations, yes surprises – 

in word and beat and thought

A potluck of idle or busy mind

A compulsion or a meandering discovery —

All of the above, yes

This word salad aspires to 

nourish as well as to be enjoyed. 

If there is something not to your taste 

push it to the side of the plate 

and forget it. 

I will not be offended. 

My own pleasure, in a never perfect product,

will not be lessened.

Breaking Bread

Feeling too large

Taking too much space in this small kitchen 

My years of service blatantly displayed

None the less, the daily gatherings around me

Secures my place. After being lovingly washed

And set with cloth and cutlery I hold meal after meal 

Setting freshly baked bread in the table’s center - 

My ritual gift for those who gather 

around Grandmother’s table -

I ask each to say what they are grateful for today 

And what they’ve found to bring them a smile

It’s often the same

Only this sturdy oak table could hold so many blessings

Watching the Mountain 

Long before I found my treasured spot, molten lava welled up from earth’s core and spilled itself into a mountain

Welling up, flowing down

Ridges sharp, or softly curved, formed on the way back to the sea

Wind and rain accented these forms, earthquakes, landslides, erosion

Welling up, flowing down

Eons of change sculpt the ridges, life’s phenomenal growth clings -

This uneven ground we call home/mountain/mother

Welling up, flowing down

The clouds and mist, rain and humid air, reveal the subtle changes in color and curve

The bright sun blanches detail, highlighting the brute strength of rock, giving us the illusion of permanence, stability - convinced it has always been like this

and will always remain, no matter the destruction we impose with our desire to make all surfaces smooth and safe

While at dawn and dusk, the light, shadows, mist, reveal fragile edges being worn away

Long after all humans are gone, the earth will continue 

welling up, flowing down 

*********************************