Stay Home, Take a Walk
these days
we scan for pleasure
blooms of elm
of pink cheeked camellias
wildflowers on a city peak
where dogs
continue to smell
each blade of grass
for more and more and more
we stay home
take a walk
stay home
take a walk
and notice
the architecture
and longevity of trees
the jazz of spring
the coo
of a morning dove
at the kitchen table
we put puzzles together
this piece goes here
and this goes there
find blue
find green
find red
we gargle and sip
gargle and sip
notice what else is here
children build
fairy houses in trees
a father scatters flower petals
along a city block
his daughter jumps
on every one
I walk
with a friend
6 feet apart
and decide
to only speak
about what we are
grateful for
the bloom
the rise
the view
songbirds
and stars
at home
we gargle and sip
gargle and sip
notice
the tempo
the timber
the smoky fur
of the cat
her deep curling
rest
my daughter
misses going to the gym
starts to run and run and run
through the canyon
to find what else is here
the hill
the grass
the dog
that smells and smells
for more and more
we gargle and sip
gargle and sip
put the next piece
of the puzzle together
find green
find blue
find red
then walk
into the big sky
follow
the uncontained flight
of birds
Susan Dambroff is a poet, performer, and teacher. Her poetry chapbbok,
“Conversations with Trees” was published in 2018 by Finishing Line Press. Her
latest manuscript ,“A Chair Keeps the Floor Down”, dives deeply into her long career
as a Special Education teacher, and is now under submission.
She has been published in many literary journals and anthologies, including Civil
Liberties United, Ghosts of the Holocaust, Stoneboat, Birdland Journal,
Red Bird Chapbooks, and Earth’s Daughters . Her first book of poems, “Memory in
Bone” was published in a limited letterpress edition in 1984 by Black Oyster Press.
She performs throughout the Bay Area in Spoken Duets, a poetic collaboration with
Chris Kammler.
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