Invitation, a poem by Joanne Giannino

 

Invitation

“At the turning of the year...”  Ann Hills
                                                (https://annehills.com/2014/03/at-the-turning-of-the-year/)

 

Let’s decide to gather blessings to fill a basket with gratitude

Joanne

for all the gifts of the past year

though it might be easier to lament, replay mistakes,

suffer our own fool (there are other hours for that).

Instead, this day before winter solstice

let’s bring to mind and heart gifts & surprises

some of yours, some of mine

like learning twice – in a cookbook and a song

(with thanks to the cook and the singer)

that there are really six seasons in Vermont

winter, spring, summer, autumn,

and of course, mud.

But new to me, the season of the sticks –

that often grey in between time

when the golden leaves then curled and brown

fall to litter the floor of forest and yard

and the deep snow days

when the evergreens are heavy with wet, white inches of flakes

(how do they weigh so much?)

and the younger hard woods bend under the weight

Like in a dance, with a bow to one another

Did you know there is a name for the lean in between

when the trees in silhouette, naked

allow our eyes to peer through the woods

to see what is often hidden?

A seasonal view of the lake or pond

that the realtor guaranteed was there

but we never really knew ‘til now.

The tiny winter birds flitting from branch to branch

until they land just here outside our window

at the feeder bursting with newly poured seed –

the squirrels haven’t found it yet!

The fields and yards of late-in-the-year

green and brown grasses

and flowerless perennial stalks

taking a breath, enjoying a rest

from the work of spring and summer

at ease, turning inward

like the bears, for a long sleep –

there are other gifts from earlier this year

but for now, let’s rest here too

in whatever gifts and surprises have come our way

in this knowing, in the season of the sticks

for this moment, the day before the longest night

with a basket of gratitude

and a harvest of new knowing.

 – 20.12.23 JMG, Vermont