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Carolyn Martin - Poet

“All my life I have tried to find the truth and make it beautiful.” – Sting

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To All Dog Lovers Out There

October 19, 2019 by Carolyn Martin Leave a Comment

It happens this way …

A friend just emailed me to say she put down her dog this morning. It was a compassionate thing to do since her sweet pet was suffering so much. My friend’s heart is cracking open with grief again – she’s experienced this before –- but she will assure anyone who listens that the love she has shared with her dear dog is worth the pain.

Everyday I receive FB posts from my dog-loving friends across the country. They include messages about the benefits – physical and spiritual – of owning a dog – or, better yet, being owned by one. They make me laugh about the silly things dogs do and joy in the tenderness dogs show in nurturing abandoned kittens or guarding a sleeping child. I can understand the love.DSC07973

We don’t have a pet – unless you want to count the feral cats, steller’s jays, juncos, robins, and other various creatures who play in our backyard. The traveling we do makes owning a good excuse. I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving a dog in a kennel or even having someone other than us watch over it when we flew away.

Perhaps another reason is equally true: the experiences my brothers and I had  with pets growing up in NJ. I dug out this poem that appeared in Fall 2016 in an anthology called Our Last Walk: Using Poetry for Grieving and Remembering Our Pets.

I think the last six lines nail the truest truth about my lack of pet-ownership. A million cheers to all of you share love with, and learn love from, your pets. Someday …

 Love’s Labor’s Lost

or Why I don’t own pets

Three chameleons

disappeared

into our bamboo shades.

The horny lizard’s

soft-curled back

amazed

then,

like goldfish

in their hazy bowl,

flipped

its down-side up.

Unamused,

dad booted out

the lab who

slurped

his cabbage soup.

The speckled mutt

arrived

one day,

ran

away the next.

Need more

reasoning?

A droop-face cop

charged

our summer yard

and shot

two frothing pups.

My heart

can’t bear

another crack.

I fall in love

too hard,

too fast.

 

Haiku for the birth of spring

March 22, 2019 by Carolyn Martin Leave a Comment

 

Steeped in Words at the Chinese Garden

October 14, 2018 by Carolyn Martin Leave a Comment

It happens this way …

DSC06407Yesterday was a perfect autumn day at the Chinese Garden where we gathered in the Scholars Room to share beauty, camaraderie, and poetry. Thanks to all the folks who came in body and to all of you across the miles who were there in spirit.

Here are a few unedited audio clips to give you the flavor of the day. Since this is a public garden, the ambient noise reminds us of the world outside. Enjoy this wondrous fall wherever you are!

 

 

https://carolynmartinlife.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/storm-advisory1.mp3 https://carolynmartinlife.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/perennial-gardener.mp3 https://carolynmartinlife.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/ready-are-you_.mp3
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