Greeting the Dawn in Days of Divisiveness
BY KATRINA MONROE.
When you wake, wake gently,
Take measure of your body,
shifting it into its own comfort.
Appreciate that it came back to its awareness
ready to engage this new day with backbone.
Feel the pulse of your physique
as life courses through your veins.
Send a message of love to your entire body,
especially any area of pain or stress
brought on by living in this vulnerable world.
Leave your memories of dreams on the bedside table
as you sit up slowly and appreciate
that while you slept your active mind
has been clearing the clutter,
ejecting yesterday’s list of problems
and sorting out anxieties
so you may start your day encouraged.
Let your heart take note of the gratitudes
and be present in the here and now,
guarding against the thieves of hope and wonder.
Kick off the sheets of fear of that which has not happened
and do not manifest a future conflict.
As you stand experience your inner guts and grit
and be assured you will have the endurance it takes.
Finally, though your eyes may want to weep
with the world in distress,
bravely keep your heart open and receptive
to the joys and opportunities of this new day.
Another Day
BY KATRINA MONROE.
Another day is not promised to me.
I must make do with this one
with all its dreariness, windiness, chilliness.
Its surfeit of raindrops
like a legion of guests who have overstayed their welcome
pound on my door despite
my unwillingness to give them access.
But this gloomy day is what I have to celebrate
that you and I continue here
in a world compromised by more than weather.
Our threads cross and uncross
in the warp and weft of our togetherness.
We are blooming magnolias in a windstorm;
our showiness cannot hide our vulnerability
to the forces of life and death.
In our bravado we cannot forget
our tenuous hold on own fates
whether down the street from a murder,
near the convulsions of an earthquake,
or thousands of miles from a bomb launch.
To what end should we worry?
For if we do not live beyond the next moment
we would not have time for regrets.
Appreciation is best relished in the current state
rather than remembered in a future one.
I would rather be on a blanket together
on a sun dappled forest floor or breezy beach
where every moment is clearly labeled “Treasure!”
But as I look out with you
to the dismal world of the current moment
in all its ordinary melancholy,
I seek instead the streaks of gold
in the veins of common bedrock.
Katrina (Kathy) Monroe is the current Poet Laureate of Benicia, California. An East Coast transplant, she loves the literary richness of her adopted San Francisco Bay Area. Her chapbook, Transitions and Reinventions, chronicled in poetry her first year here, from saying goodbye to beloved people and places in the Northeast, to her heartfelt adventures all over California. Her book of canine love songs, Having the Last Woof, will be out in 2026.
A retired therapist, she has a BA from Boston University in Sociology, an M.Ed. from Harvard in Counseling, and an MSW from Rutgers in Clinical Social Work, with nary a course in poetry. Instead, she has learned over the years from others’ writings, presentations and workshops. Favorite topics include character studies, topography, narratives, nature, social justice, “soul conversations” and new experimental forms. Her broad ranging “works of heart” have picked up many awards and publishing offers. When not writing/reading poetry or organizing poetry events, she fills her time volunteering with Carquinez Village seniors, adventuring near and far in her RV, playing Trivia, boating, dancing and walking her dog Rocky all over downtown.
Another Day was previously published in The Benicia Herald in April 2023.
A retired therapist, she has a BA from Boston University in Sociology, an M.Ed. from Harvard in Counseling, and an MSW from Rutgers in Clinical Social Work, with nary a course in poetry. Instead, she has learned over the years from others’ writings, presentations and workshops. Favorite topics include character studies, topography, narratives, nature, social justice, “soul conversations” and new experimental forms. Her broad ranging “works of heart” have picked up many awards and publishing offers. When not writing/reading poetry or organizing poetry events, she fills her time volunteering with Carquinez Village seniors, adventuring near and far in her RV, playing Trivia, boating, dancing and walking her dog Rocky all over downtown.
Another Day was previously published in The Benicia Herald in April 2023.