Poetry Wednesday: Mundane Things

The Russian Sage is now in full glory and dominating the garden. But the little orange hummingbird trumpets are putting on a pretty nice little show of their own.

Visit Jacqui's Multi-Blog Poetry Wednesday.

Never Underestimate the Therapeutic Value
in Mundane Things
Breathe.
. . .
Ah, the smell of
Freshly laundered sheets
Reminds me of something.
Way in the past.
Comfort.
A carefree time.

There is a way to fold fitted sheets.
I know how.
A simple joy,
Tidy stacks of fragrant linens.
I hurry through nothing
These days.

Weeding along the pavement
Thinking only of those weeds.
How do they grow so tall?
Between those baking rocks
With no water?
Living things
Surviving harsh conditions.

Breathe in and out.

Watering the yard
And the neighbor’s lawn, too,
While they are away
As their sprinkling system stopped
And their lawn is on life support.
I have to try
To save it.

Deep breaths . . .

Sometimes they live,
The doctor told me,
For many years to come.
We have to try.
Though sometimes
They don’t survive.
I’m sorry . . .

I will go to work today,
After first sitting quietly
With my coffee,
Breathing in and out,
Watching the little hummingbirds
Who have found the feeder
Installed by Art,
In lieu of flowers.

There is no rush.
I hurry through nothing
These days.

Becky Stauffer
July 2009

From across the street in the pre-sunrise light, my own lawn looks pretty dry. But the temps have been in the 100s and I am stingy with the water. It will green up more as temps cool down. Tough love for the lawn.

UPDATE: Kwika in the comments has asked me how to fold a fitted sheet. And I have tried with a little drawing program to make an illustration (argh, I'm a terrible graphic artist). Of course, you can improvise on this. The key is tucking the corners inside one another and folding all the non-flat parts toward the middle and inside.
Fold the sheet in half by turning the the bottom rounded corners inside out and tucking them into the right-side-out top corners. The 'sides' (the part of the sheet that goes on the sides of the bed) will naturally fold inward; straighten and smooth these parts. There will be wrinkles and lumps, just smooth as best you can. This gives you a sort-of rectangle as seen in the illustration. Now fold the left and right edges in, meeting at the center. Now none of the fitted corners or sides are showing. Continue folding in halves or thirds to achieve the size you like.

Tip: Lay the sheet on the bed to fold as you'll need a large flat surface.