If I Could Change One Thing

When I wake up in the morning,

I would like to change

Something in my backyard.

(I know you are with me, 

Still …..unseen

As of this moment,

But standing 

By our bed as I wake up in the morning.)

 

So, this thing

I want to change 

In the backyard is……

Something about society, being social, being adequate;

About humanity, and love and life review.

 

So far, 

It has no label or word or name.

But it is blue.

And, I think that they call it peace.

Could it be a barbeque ? Yes. 

Could it be a rock ? Yes.

Could it be the future ? Yes.

The Filtering Rain

Dusk walking down the sidewalk.
The rain filters.
We need that again.
The red-breasted robin
Almost crossed.
Coming from the other side,
The squirrel actually did,
And took me by surprise
As it chased the robin.

Shoulder Blades

What do I do with my shoulder blades when they want to be lifted up ? Could it be by a halter, one of those old 70’s halter tops ? (Wow. I still have a modified version of one.) But, naked in the morning, when I wake up, I don’t feel that old halter….top. 

Instead, I feel as if hands and wings fill me up with emotion, lift me up from under my arms. Invisible. Friends, family, lover, angels, and all manner of spirit. 

I live alone.

Ginger Ingalls, Blessing, 2012

 

 

The Love For Humanity

The pleasure is so vast,
Of love.
The couples in my chest
Of memory; the obstacle I sit with
And of pain.

I feel a soul call, and weirdly time calls.
And I wonder what this means
In that there seems no answer in this
Vase. “Ode On A Grecian Urn”
Turns slowly.

My center is so full, and not of spectacle, but of the
Small things and moments
Where all of their lives, combined with mine…
The love for humanity.
A personal-universal,
The blank, and balking plank
And black and white polarity of the words’ needs, and
If they are nurturing
The red rice and beans, the men,
The Cajun, Ethiopian; me, woman, women;
U.S.A., D.N.A., and love for humanity.

Ginger Ingalls 2012

In Between My Breasts

In between my breasts,

Quick to remark,

My heart has learned now 

That it doesn’t really work well 

That way.

 

Yet, stillness continues

Either way; and through the best 

Way of allowing anger

To rise and meet

My own nurturing 

Loving heart. 

 

It could be in little things

At first: the mail

Delivered to the wrong address

Or not delivered at all.

The oven pilot light

Needs fixing.

 

Later, it could be 

In talking. 

 

Ginger Ingalls, February 29, 2012, from “sequel,” my third book. 

 

 

 

I Have Been Given A Chance To Slow Down

I Have Been Given A Chance To Slow Down.

I have been given a  chance to slow down. I decide each morning as I arise, at the lip of  decision, that fleeting moment, each precious one, is peace.

Maybe stress and stillness now aren’t as deep as the ancient animal nature connection I made one day in Naples, Fla. when a tree frog settled for one of these moments on my foot.

But, it is just different, now, arising out of irony, out of the need of being human, of love, new, with other people.

And I don’t want my gaze to be vacant when I am alone, as it isn’t, I know, when I get a phone call interrupting a snack of radishes and beet greens.

There is love, either way, and I don’t have to answer the phone if I don’t want to.

Love, Eye-To-Eye

Love, eye-to-eye mutual support.

Let go of words and ones that must slip away as too much fantasy can deceive.

Gently, I see you through timing and sometimes tough times with my light.

No rushing, pushing, or trying too hard.

Be full inside……

 

Utterly Smooth

I am through and got through the nausea, diarrhea, and severe tiredness,

I got through once that my leg muscles folded like a fan under me; and I crumpled to the floor in a posh restaurant as I stood after eating.

The body cream used to treat calving or chafed cow teats was FUN to use.

My cracking, bleeding, dry hands became practical-ethereal as this cream can be used for humans, too.

Vegetarianism aside, I would like to thank the cow.

Some Possibilities Actually Mature & Transformation

Some possibilities actually….mature, with responsibilities.

if I have 20-30 seed ideas a day and develop 2 or 3; if you have many objects in your house, each with a story and an experience: we are rich.

If I read a poem and get feedback that says “I will never see a tree again in quite the same way”, this is about transformation….that one can transform someone’s else’s life.

What a responsibility ! It is a responsibility.

I stood before a portrait of Greta Garbo at The National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.. And I cried, and cried, and cried. That art object did heal, transforming me from loneliness to a good, healthy solitude as I learned to live with myself.

And what is common among us ?

Nature, human nature, and love.

Love, just love.

c 2011 Ginger Ingalls

 

 

 

 

Praise

Today I woke up to an email from an old friend and saying “Praise be to God.”
I felt good by this, and meeting the new rector of my neighborhood church tonight at a dinner.

Why ? Where do I fit into this past-future ?

The personal-universal love is me seeking. A hug with you.

How many events and who are those people we allow to escape us because we do not LOVE THEM ?

What would it take TO FEEL ?

Here’s a poem I’ve written, dedicated to YOU praising the day, what it brings.

Autumn Petunias In Bloom
Confidence you can count on
When it all adds up
To neither work nor play ?
Confidence….you….can….count….on.
Even earthquake or hurricane
Is worth
A piece of the moon
And garden boxes
Of petunias still in bloom.
As women’s weather.

c 2011 Ginger Ingalls