cozy time of year
tea kettle whistling
and kitties curled on the couch
leaves dancing on the winds in the woods
and rain pattering on the windows
warm fire in the woodstove
smell of apples
and a pie baking in the oven
full of gratitude
for rain and dancing leaves
for kitties and warmth and pie
for family and love
and you
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
(Autumn photos by Karen Molenaar Terrell.)
“Old age” comes little by little, I think –
little surrenders of who we are
to the experts and authorities,
to convenience and comfort –
someone tells us we need to stay out
of the sun, to eat only certain foods,
to travel only at the right times
and to the right places,
and to wash our hands after every
handshake and human touch –
and we listen and obey.
And so we spend our days in “preventative”
exams – counting the pills into our trays –
hoping to increase the number of our days.
And little by little we relinquish
the small pleasures that make life
meaningful – the joy of adventure,
noon-time lunch with our faces turned
towards the sun, whipped cream on
our cocoa, shaking hands with new friends,
and listening to our own hearts to create lives
worth living.
And we lose our lives in a fear of death.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell
(Originally published January 8, 2017)
Sometimes there just aren’t words.
But I’ll try.
I hear you.
I feel the pain you’re feeling
and want to fold you into a fierce hug
and absorb the pain into my own body
and relieve you of it.
I hear you.
I feel the joy you’re feeling
and want to dance and spin with you
under the stars until we drop together
from happy exhaustion.
I hear you.
I hear your weeping.
I hear your laughter.
I hear the music of your heart.
And I want you to know
you’re not alone in any of it.
We’re all in this symphony of life
together.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell
(Originally published in September 2021.)
sustained
and maintained
by the body of Life –
we are nothing less
than the whole
perfection
projection
reflection
affection
of Love
held in the never-ending
connection
with all that is Good
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Look at them!
Perfect little round balls
of juicy sweetness –
the last harvest of the fall –
planted and watered by me
tended by honey bees –
planted in the spring
in a pot on the deck
growing in the summer sun
watered by the rains of autumn –
it took three seasons
to get them here –
me and the bees
and the sun and the rain –
connected in the magic
of these perfect red orbs.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
I wake from sleep.
It’s still dark outside.
The tip of my nose is cold
from the October breeze
coming through our window.
The cold is rejuvenating,
rather than uncomfortable.
The morning chill suddenly
brings me back to a day
of downhill skiing.
In a flash it’s all there –
the waiting in line
to get on the chair,
and then in the chair,
skis dangling over the slopes
below – the whir of the chair lift
as it brings me up for my first run –
the anticipation and thrill
as I get closer and closer
to exiting the chair and “hitting
the slopes.” And then my skis
are on packed snow.
I’m pushing off – feeling my skis
bumping over the ruts and tracks
until they find a smooth stretch
and my body remembering
how to move over ice and snow.
As I lie in bed I feel my leg
muscles contracting and flexing
as my memory takes me over moguls
and swooshing down the Daisy run.
I’m fully awake now. I’m not out of bed, yet,
but I’ve already had a day of skiing
in my head in my bed.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
I swim on a breeze
autumn leaves dance around me
the playful cosmos
– Karen Molenaar Terrell
beach leach reach teach?
strain the cerebral cortex
baste haste paste taste?
I’m stuck in a wordle vortex
moose mouse goose house?
what are the missing letters?
train trail brain frail?
need to break these wordle fetters
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
My feet have been attached to sandals
most of the summer (fear of stepping on prickles
in bare feet). But on the first day of autumn
I walk barefoot in the field, and it tickles
my sole and my soul – where the grass is green
I feel my feet sinking into its soft sheen
and where the grass is dry I expect it to feel
brittle and scratchy, but it doesn’t! My feet
are walking on golden velvet. It feels luxurious.
My feet are stretching
like happy cats
on the grass
underneathe them.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Perfect September morning.
A soft breeze
ruffles the changing leaves
– rubies and gold are just starting
to jewel the trees –
and there’s just
enough chill in the air
to make me tingly aware,
refreshed and waking
from the semi-hibernating
of a long, hot summer.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell
Photo of Lake Padden reflection by Karen Molenaar Terrell.
Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist 