Tag Archives: love

Fall Wonderings

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Photo Credit: Shoutout to Alex Motoc

Fourteen years ago today, I gave birth to a perfect and beautiful son, David Carl.

My third son.

My heart’s desire.

When a child is born still, our state writes no birth certificate and signs no death certificate.

It is as if the child never existed.

But no worries.

The hospital gave me a stuffed bear to carry home.

As if the gaping emptiness of my heart could be so easily filled.

You can read the whole story here. 

Fall

It happened again.
October.

I hate October—
acrid leaves, 
dying,
death.

My chest hurts
from breathing.

I try to forget.

But the accuracy 
and tenacity 
of the body 
to remember 
what the mind 
wishes to forget 
holds on.

I kept looking 
at the clock, 
wondering when 
it would end.

I remembered 
watching the clock 
as my body strained 
wondering when 
it would end—

knowing how it would end.
Wishing it would just end.
Trying to remember,
hoping to forget.

 But that’s not how it works;
I had to learn how to work 
the angles of grief.

Every October
I fall into myself
like cliff diving
without water,

and I measure my worth
in treasures of memory.

—cjpjordan

Wonder

I wonder if he would have eyes the color of the sea.

I wonder if he would devour books instead of read them.

I wonder if he would prefer running outdoors or playing legos indoors.

I wonder if he would like mushrooms and tomatoes and mashed potatoes.

I wonder if he would be a music lover and a story teller.

I wonder if Evan would be different with a sibling close in age.

I wonder....everything.

All I will ever do is wonder.

I never saw the color of his eyes or read him books or cooked him a meal or sang him to sleep or heard his voice.

Even so, David lives.

He lives in my memory as an unfulfilled dream--
a set of wonderings--
until I see him again one day.

He lives in my heart 
as the eternal hope 
of my Eternal Hope.

—cjpjordan

Late Summer Evening

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Thanks to Vincent van Zalinge @vincentvanzalinge for making this photo available freely on Unsplash 🎁 https://unsplash.com/photos/CchPqypO8nE

The backyard has been a minefield of mud for the entire spring and summer months. The contractor we hired the end of April has used very excuse you can imagine as to why the work wasn’t complete.

As a teacher, I have heard many an excuse in my day as to why work wasn’t finished, why books weren’t brought to class, and why one child needed to insult another child. Often I have reminded students to simply stand tall and own their truth, even if they think they might “get in trouble” for it.

In my own life I have found that honest self reflection leads to growth.

Unfortunately, this contractor wasn’t interested in self reflection or growth. He was a poor communicator and gave excuses instead of owning his truth. Nearly four months later, he finally poured our patio. All the roots still aren’t trimmed around the edges of the patio, and the attention to finish details simply aren’t anywhere to be seen there, but we have a poured patio.

For now this is enough.

After the concrete patio was set, we hired these young men (with better communication skills, respect, and follow through than the older contractor) to build the gazebo kit we bought. They communicated clearly the dates they were available (all within the week’s time) and showed up right on time. When they finished there wasn’t so much as a scrap of paper lying about the yard. The job was finished above and beyond our expectations.
The work ethic and follow through of these young men restored my hope in builders.

Tonight Trace, Ev, and I sat out on the patio with our dear friend Jen, listening to the thrum of cicadas and watching the dragonflies dance in the evening sky.

Peaceful rest is what Jen called it, and I quite agree.

In those moments, I rediscovered my muse; it was the magic of the late summer garden at sunset.

Late Summer

Swarming dragonflies,
honking geese heading south—
they left me wondering how 
the summer waned into fall
without word or warning.
All I did was blink.

—Carla Jeanne Picklo Jordan

Post Purity Culture

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Photo edited by Mariah Wilson; photo courtesy of Charles Deluvio/Unsplash

When I was growing up in the fundamentalist evangelical church, I was taught that I was too loud, too bossy, too brass and too crass. I was chubby and wore half sizes in children’s sizes which was the plus size version for kids. My best friend was skinny, flat chested, and sporty. I was chubby, developed breasts early, and quite clumsy.

I wasn’t allowed to date until I was 16 and then only Christian boys because the Bible said it was a sun to be “unequally yoked”. I couldn’t see PG rated movies, use playing cards, listen to rock music, or use “crass language” including “substitute” words like gosh, darn, golly, shoot, poop, or (Heavens to Betsy!) crap.

But it was the messages I heard about sex and my body that have been the toughest to overcome. Sex outside of marriage wasn’t even an option. Should I do such a thing, I would be forever ruined, someone else’s trash. 

The list of rules for girls was quite long:

- Bodies should be covered up, even when swimming.

- Nakedness was something to cause shame.

- Virginity is what gave women value; it’s was her gift to her future husband.

- Sex is shameful, don’t do it… unless you’re married. 

- Once married, women won’t want sex as often as men, but never refuse your husband.

- Always keep yourself looking good for your man.

- Put something pretty on just before your husband comes home.

- Women should submit to the authority of men for their own protection. 

- Only men have strong sex drives.

- If women have sex before marriage they are damaged goods and no one will want them—they are like a crumpled rose.

Deconstruction is a process that I am still experiencing. It’s amazing how quickly the teaching and indoctrination of my youth comes back to bite my enlightened feminist modern soul. I find it difficult to separate the good from the bad of my upbringing. But I am determined to continue this work.

Purity Culture

Men are visual
Or so I’ve been told 
So many times
It is woven into 
my DNA.

Be careful
Watch what you wear; 
Watch how you walk 
don’t be forward or loud
or brassy.

No one likes 
A brassy woman
Women are responsible
For the lusting found
In the hearts of men.

I tell myself 
I have grown out 
I have moved on 
From such foolish 
Patriarchal nonsense.

I tell myself
I have deconstructed
Whatever that means
I have separated
The truth from the lies.

Until something happens
And all of it comes 
Rushing back—
Guilt, Anger, 
And Burning Shame.

At the end
Of deconstruction
There remains a giant
Pile of rubble, one 
Mess of mortified me.

But I own 
Every last piece
Of senseless shame
Every tiny bit
Of damning guilt

I own my story 
I own my future
I alone own 
The power 
to rebuild my life.

—cjpjordan

Sunset

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Lake Isabella
Sunset

Orange ombre 
tapestry covers 
the sky-blue of day 
until only a sliver 

remains framing
the still life, 
reflecting off
the tranquil waters

where a fruit bowl
of cantaloupe, 
apricot, peach,
and tangerine

captivate my senses
so tangible
I can taste them 
I can smell the earth

cooling from her 
day’s work. As 
the bee buzzes by
in his rush to get back 

to the hive,
even he slows down
to savor the beauty.
Pause, Reflect, Savor—

a holy trinity, 
a powerhouse,
an embodiment
of living well.


Certainty

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Photo Credit: Thank you and shoutout to Dickens Sikazwe.
certainty

i'm not certain
of anything
except 
thisonething:
i will not own
the expectations
of others.
like second hand shoes,
they never quite fit 
the shape of my feet.


—Carla Jeanne Picklo Jordan

Home

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Photo Credit: Thank you and shoutout to Cloris Ying.


Hungry but not starved
she hurried toward the village
chest heaving breathing
in the familiar scent 
she knew she was home at last.

—by Carla Jeanne Picklo Jordan

This form is called a tanka. “The tanka is a thirty-one-syllable poem, traditionally written in a single unbroken line. A form of waka, Japanese song or verse, tanka translates as “short song,” and is better known in its five-line, 5/7/5/7/7 syllable count form.”

Check out this website for more: https://poets.org/glossary/tanka

Sam

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Photo credit: Thanks 🙌
and shoutout to Andy Holmes.
Sam


I met 
the universe 
today, she 
told me 
her name 
was Sam.

I had 
so many 
big thoughts
for her—
like how 
the moon

is loyal,
each night
tucking me
safely into
my bed.
I wondered

how the
sky felt
when the 
sun rose
inside her
each morning.

We chatted,
Sam and I,
for quite
some time;
when we
finished talking,

we parted
ways smiling
hearts open—
treasuring our
new friendship
just beginning.

—a draft by Carla Jeanne Picklo Jordan

Oma

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Photo Credit: Thanks to CDC @cdc for making this photo available freely on Unsplash 🎁 https://unsplash.com/photos/F98Mv9O6LfI
Oma

She smelled of lilacs,
Baby Magic lotion,
and summer-misted air—
cool as the color
of her snow white hair.

Every summer
we looked for miracles
and found them everywhere—
seed to bud to flower,
violets blooming purple.

Write hope on your heart
meine liebchen—she whispered
as we worked side by side—
write hope over fear.
Get lost in wonder.

—by Carla Jeanne Picklo Jordan

Tasting Enough

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A view from my window.

I spent some time reflecting today. I don’t get time like that very often, and so I cherish it all the more.

I wish you a lifetime of tasting enough, my friends. 


Tasting Enough

Set wide the window
and I shall not wonder—

I will drink the day
and sip the evening—

I will listen 
with each swallow

how the weight of the world
feels in my mouth

like names and places
like memories 

that look away
that look ahead

layering the moments
one on top of the next.

Set wide the window 
so I can taste enough.

—Carla Jeanne Picklo Jordan

Fourth of July

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There’s this girl, you see, born on the Fourth of July. She erupted on the scene at a military base and grew to love all things military precision-like—minimalistic living and spartan saving with exacting expectations of herself—yet exploding with all the vibrant color of a rainbow. She’s an out of the box thinker—MacGyver’s met his match in her.

This girl, you see, is a firecracker, whip smart, and loud about things that matter like injustice, inequality, and freedom for all. She’s the yang to my yin, the bang for my buck, my soul sister, twin flame, and best friend. Happy Birthday, Tracy Jo! 🥰🎉🎊 💥

4th of July

It is hard to say when or where
Although why is not quite as hard
(synchronous orbits)to declare 
that mysterious tidal heat
where in wonder science we meet.
Life whisks away what’s not needed,
brings the ebb and flow, completed 
we move while the stars stand their guard.

—Carla Jeanne Picklo Jordan