Taxicabs are mutable things. They start out life in the paint shop with a newly shining skin of brilliant yellow. Bright, easy to see, sunshiny brilliance broken only by the checkerboard detail  applied to the meridian of the vehicle, they roll out of the garage every new shift like happy childr… Read full post »

The leading edge of Nemo was to have started dropping snow on our part of New Hampshire by early afternoon. As far as I could tell, by 10:30 when I went out to hang an additional feeder of sunflower seeds for the wild birds, the snow had started.

 As of… Read full post »

She is alone in freezing air
Her finery abandoned
The clouds in mystery appear
To swim with her
Surrounding her leaves
With icy indifference.

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Text & Photograph Copyright © 2013 CoyoteOldStyle.
All Rights… Read full post »

Keene, New Hampshire's Pumpkin Festival is just memories now. Thanksgiving is only days away. Pumpkin still is one of the great flavors of harvest time. This cheesecake is creamy and delicious with spicy cinnamon and ginger bringing out the earthiness of the pumpkin. The crust is… Read full post »

Here's a song for today. My husband and I have already voted. In fact, we took other folks to the polls. One of them was a young woman who had never voted. We made sure she registered and that she was able to wield the power each of us has in… Read full post »

The sleeping giant awakens

To a dawn of bloodred light

Cold realization in the shape

Of season-changing wind

Pushes through years of rusty cobwebs

Allowed to obscure

Expression, personality,

The essence of self.

She steps to the edge of the precipice

And flies.

If you re… Read full post »

 Setting sail on that self journey

Leaves me on the shore holding

Charts, directions that mean nothing

Compasses that spin with no magnetic attraction

Goals are hazy, goals are shimmering behind

A pale gauzy scrim of foreign words

No maps are saved from the harsh shuddering,

Surf l… Read full post »

 “. . . from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause
for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here
highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain . . . ”

            /… Read full post »

Through the window a

Spiral of parking lot players.

A glimpse, a swift impression.

Standing next to me: such presence,

Energy, fusing past memory and

Unknown supposition. A hot splash

Of light, star-shaped, radiates from

Deep inside, engulfing us both

In a narrative that will never occ… Read full post »

For many years, my Christmas tree came not from a lot or a store, but from the acres of land where my grandfather lived. Each year after Thanksgiving he and I would meet at his house, dressed in Sorels, parkas and heavy gloves, grab a hand saw and head out… Read full post »

Reposting this poem on Veterans Day 2011 is fitting. My friend Timmy never came back from Vietnam. His body didn’t die there but his spirit was changed forever. Timmy existed in a world of pain medicated with VA prescriptions and street drugs and alcohol. He put himself into situations during w… Read full post »

My friend, micalpeace, has an excellent post that speaks to the frustration we all have felt at Open Salon over the treatment of others by trolls, unkind commenters and people who, instead of keeping quiet and moving on or saying something nice, have seen fit to fill our comment… Read full post »

Man has conquered air and space
The vast reaches of open water
Ocean depths and icy steppes,
The frozen wastelands,
The farmers' plains
And sky-scratching mountains.
Earth contains no explosive eureka moment.
But the fire of a woman's tears,
The ache of a thousand miles
Of physical distance bri… Read full post »

I hold this pile of despair,
Ashes with pieces of memory,
Charred bits of bone
Severed from the whole cloth
That blanketed our connection.

I sing to you songs
That you will not hear
Echo from room to room.
Tacit spaces are the best
For an unvoiced poem.

An armful of flowers
Gathered in t… Read full post »

Stand at the edge
Of a granite place
So high that trees
Quit growing in the
Face of all that beauty.
Put your trust in
Something that you
Cannot see,
Or touch or hear,
A thing that you only
Can feel, can contact
With the fingertips of
Your heart.

Vow to… Read full post »

My Japanese plum trees are groaning with their bounty. For the second day in a row, I have picked dozens of tiny, perfect fruit. Without too much effort, my thoughts turn to baking a cake that is rich with butter and sugar but isn’t too sweet. I can picture… Read full post »

The kisses were oh so sweet and full of passion, totally abandoned, without self-consciousness or artifice. They kissed as if there was no beginning or end. They kissed in the dark and created light and shadow and contrast. They kissed amidst the chemicals and the running water. They kissed surrounde… Read full post »

They’re always so comely,
Wearing fragile, filmy gowns.
A distant breeze ruffles their
Blond/auburn/raven hair.
They stand at a window, a widow's walk
On a land’s end precipice
Waiting for their fulfillment:
The man who will complete all
Those empty jigsaw places and make their
Inner Mona… Read full post »

There was no email from NASA in my inbox yesterday.

No invitation from #NASATweetup #STS135.

Earthbound again.

This spring I was fortunate enough to get tickets to the launch of STS-134, the last flight of the shuttle Endeavour. I made not one but two pilgrimages to Kennedy Space… Read full post »

This continuing story is that of my daughter, whose hip is pictured in the X-ray at the top of this page. She continues to face pain and more medical procedures than many people her age. I write this in celebration of her.

I have seen you face profound… Read full post »

I have often been told that when I perform, the singing sounds effortless, as if it was possible to just open my mouth and have the dulcet tones ring out perfectly in tune. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Recently I was asked to take on the responsibilities of… Read full post »

 Two years ago, Annette2009 issued an open call for poetry, the subject of which was homelessness. I submitted  “Government Housing,” a poem that was born out of my experiences working for a local housing authority, administering federal Public Housing apartments.

This af… Read full post »

A magnitude 8.9 earthquake hit Japan yesterday.

Among the affected are surely some gay people.

So can this issue be on the OS cover now?

Yes, there's an open call for videos but there are also other Open Salon stories that should be getting some play.… Read full post »

Had you forgotten how taxing, how difficult, how FUN the photo caption contest could be??? 

Along with the caption contest, there was a side wager that asked if anyone could determine which photo in Snow News Is Good News in New Hampshire was actually black and white. bikepsychobabble figured ou… Read full post »

 With a nod to Open Salon’s slogan “You make the headlines,” on my page,
You Make the Captions!

It's been almost a year since we had fun with CoyoteOldStyle’s Armpit of the Year Photo Caption Contest. And because you asked for it, the Photo Caption Contest is back!

T… Read full post »