And one day you remember
Can one person really make you forget
all past disappointments,
past hurts
and then one day, while walking
in a copper landscape
you realize
you have forgotten everything
you are thankful for delayed snow storms
and the unfulfilled promises
as the yellow aspen leaves crunch
under your boots and the dogs catch the scent of the world
you just discovered, too
When I go home again
When I go home again
I go to the places that have stayed the same
The rocky coast of New Hampshire, where there is
sometimes sand
and the homes I visit are filled with children and rules
My old home has a wooden kitchen table
and in summer
it feels, damp with east coast humidity
there is a kitchen desk filled with photos and birthday cards
And one with a Frost poem about swinging from birches
I made this card and believe: “One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.”
My room with the single bed removed,
filled with a model railroad
I smell home, it is still my home
Mom and Dad, repeat their skit
“but we didn’t call you for dinner yet”
“what a bummer dinner isn’t ready yet”
minutes before sitting at the damp table.
I remember all of this in my make shift home without humidity in Colorado
humidity and humor are my first home
no matter what age appears on forms or what I say when people ask
I still need her okay, her approval.
every day,
her love matters
Writer in Residence
With a flick of a gloved hand
a dusting of snow sprays off the green picnic table
that comes with a view of the craggy peaks
of the Rocky Mountains
And at this movement
become writer in residence
On top of East Peak
a new tradition for the holidays
a hike to East Mountain with my dogs
pen and paper
commemorate the tradition
give thanks
While sitting atop the world and watching the landscape
Red LodgePole pines, Fraser River Canyon, Continental Divide
sage, wildflowers, buried under snow
And, as writer in residence
there is always a place
to be
Inspired.
Kristen Lodge received a BA in English at the University of New Hampshire.
She is a poet and has published poetry in Diverse Voices Quarterly and River Poets Journal.
Additionally, she has published creative nonfiction in Wilderness House Literary Review and an essay in an anthology, Press Pause Moments: Essays About Life Transitions by Women Writers. Kristen have a published story about finishing Ironman Coeur d’Alene online at NPR: This I Believe.
