Susan Frances - Writing For Peace

Weathering

I am wide open
        like the prairie.
Wind sears
        through my spaces.
They swell with rain
        shrivel with heat
splinter with cold.

I am wide open
        unprotected by mountains
unguarded by seas.
        I am the prairie
forsaken by trees.

I am wide
        unobstructed by shade
open.
        Seeds flower wild.

Into my spaces
    light climaxes
        unbridled.
___________

Previously published in The Spoon River Quarterly.

Gardening

She tends the garden
                  of life
not with formula
measured
                  mixed
but with elixir
                  pure
distilled from pain
she has chosen to bear
through all the moments
                  of eternity
she fares
        but protected now
               with certainty
that her life
          will nourish Life
so that it may flower

                 perennially

Susan Frances is an accomplished poet, playwright, and educator. She has also given interdisciplinary spoken word performances in art galleries across the country. Susan was an English teacher in the Elgin, Illinois Public Schools, and adjunct faculty professor at DePaul University’s School for New Learning and at Waubonsee Community College in Illinois.

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