"there is a 
moon sole 
in the blue 
night 

             amorous of waters 
tremulous, 
blinded with silence the 
undulous heaven yearns where 

in tense starlessness 
anoint with ardor 
the yellow lover 

stands in the dumb dark 
svelte 
and 
urgent. . ."

~ Excerpt from “Amores (III)” by E. E. Cummings

Late January, snowless and blistery cold mornings, and yet, this yellow sunbeam annointing the Charles River,: Monday morning is waking. This cold is not entirely unpleasant. It’s dry and windless and the ice is new and clear on the edges in so many designs. It’s earlier than usual, I’m glad to start my day early and lengthen it–make it seem so. I find an image that interests me: a floating person reaching out and holding a full moon. My moon has a shadow, a reflection. Tonight, I find the enchanting Cummings poem and feel that I have found an illustration of the “moon sole in the blue night,” perhaps. I imagine my floater is in amorous wters, blinded with silence, in tense starlessness. . . Except, I discover that I cannot find “undulous” in the dictionary. A made up word? No, it’s British, of course: it means “having a wavy form or appearance.” Yes! My ice image has a wavy heaven. And here, I just realize, the title of the poem I wrote for tonight’s Monday night workshop has a heaven in it. After my walk, I work in my newly freshened office space at the far end of the house in the silence. Frank helped me re-furnish and redecorate after I cleaned up tons of clutter. It’s colorful, comfortable, warm and inviting. Frank came to visit me once. My daughter came to visit me twice with a special someone. I was reminded of the times I walked up the road to my parents’ house with small children, when we lived down the street, and, after saying hello to my mother, and Abby, her dog, I would go downstairs to my father’s office where he was working, and one of my kids, often my youngest, would be with me, and we’d knock and he’d say come in and he’d drop everything he was doing, smile and welcome us in enthusiastically. Now, I am, of course, offering the same.