five tankas
Bugs in my Wine
a thank you to my ex-husband
Gnats, I understand. All’s lovely wondrousness here — deck, wine, the lake’s waves, our neighbor’s hydrangeas, the gulls, ducks, and Bud Bunny.
I’m diving in, too. Drinking in every drop. Drowning happily. So much gratitude for Now, for yesterdays forgiven.
Bud, your arrival – within moments of my own! This must be a Sign: coming full circle is good. From flames, I emerge afire.
O, enlightenment! O, Bud, my grace! Guardian! You never left me though I abandoned my Self swatting it aside.
How it bled wine red! Its wings submerged in deep grief. I empty that glass, fill it with light, love, and awe, toasting effervescent flight.
©Jenine Bsharah Baines 2021
Greetings from Madison, Wisconsin. From “the lake house.” A place I haven’t visited since my divorce from my ex-husband and good friend.
We’re here together, checking in with our son.
I am also checking in with Lake Mendota and all it has meant to me, particularly in its absence.
As Joni Mitchell wrote, Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone? They paved paradise, put in a parking lot.
I’d tried paving my heart during the past ten years where I parked myself…but never quite managed the trick. I missed the lake and my friends. Particularly “Bud Bunny.”
Bunnies abounded back in the past — and apparently still do, as evidenced by Bud’s arrival the other evening. My greeting for every rabbit never changes.
“Hi, Bud.”
In time, Bud became the name I call my guardian angel as well…a subject for another poem.
This poem — a collection of five tankas — is my thank you to my ex-husband. Kevin, you understand, I know.
Dear readers, thanks so very much for traveling with me on this pilgrimage. A pilgrimage of enlightenment and healing and hope it absolutely is. I’ll be sharing other Madison-inspired poems this week.
And, by the way — gnats really did fly into my wine.
Trista Signe Ainsworth, thank you for the perfect publication!