Engrossed in poetry on a Capitol Hill Saturday, at Seattle’s still-best bookshop.
You didn’t have to get all dressed up for me.
O autumn, fairest of them all, and me empty-handed!
Spring, sprung
On Seattle’s storm-bruised vernal equinox, arms upraised in promise: The littlest, lashed:
All the leaves are brown
The longest, dreariest days of winter make me long for the hottest, most miserable days of summer last. This particular one was so noteworthy, my handsome, delightful husband and daughters LED the 5pm, 6pm and 11pm news.
February
I see two dragons in those clouds predicting at least five more months of Seattle winter. After 13 years, I have crossed the rubicon into Seattle winter weariness.
This bed I’ve made
She curls into a hot parenthesis against me, tiny hands and feet twitching in ballet dreams. I gather the bedclothes over a wisp of porcelain shoulder: flanneled sheets, down comforter with a sueded duvet; February, and the weight of bedding has not been altered since the winter prior. “Mama’s bed,” she’d whispered before squirreling in,…
Great Wheel
Please sir, may I have some more?
So last weekend, I was at a baby shower where one of the grandfathers-to-be read my palms. This wasn’t some kind of baby-shower game — although Tom was really good and also really earthy. I imagine if it were a baby-shower game and we’d all gotten a lot more sauced up on the delicious rum…
Still life with sweat
For fuck’s sake, summer has FINALLY arrived in Seattle in the form of 90-degree days and wading pools and SPF Infinity. The best sign? It’s arrived in the front yard: Grow, pretty pears! (But keep a low profile, lest the squirrels discover you and force me to haul out the shotgun. . .)
Tourists in our own town
Or at least that was the idea when, for a joint Mother’s Day/Michael’s birthday present, we enlisted Grammy and Papa for overnight girl-sitting and booked a room downtown at the W. We’d check in early, wander through the Market, do a little shopping, duck in somewhere for cocktails, languish over dinner at a hot new…