Aaltoe’s Blog

The advent of cure
With vaccinations begun
Yet, the pandemic
Still reaching for its highest peaks.

The advent of a new national leadership
With demonstrated evidence of empathy
Yet, the remaining presence of a national leadership
Stubbornly, without empathy, without integrity
Working to serve only its narrow self-interests
And to undermine the institutional checks and balances
That enable our democracy to persist.

The advent of a growing national awareness of the strength
Of cultural as well as political roots
Of polarization in our society
And of the weaknesses
Of traditional approaches
To finding common ground
And mobilizing our means and even our commitment
To achieve it.

There are, though, hints of thought and action
That interdependent communities will form
That will build upon one another’s work
While respecting their different life patterns and beliefs
And will grace our nation with fresh hope.

Today, a cold rainy day, turning to snow.
It should fit my mood
But it does not.
The year hasn’t been like that either

Instead, tumult and calm.
Tumult in that Covid struck early in the year
Forcing the calm of isolation on so many
But the promise of vaccines
Introducing the calm of hope.

Tumult in the outrageous behavior
Of President Trump
And the serious danger he poses
To Democracy
Calm in the victory of Joe Biden
In his qualities of empathy and understanding
And the promise of reestablishing
Some degree of collaboration and national purpose.

Tumult in that Pegasus,
Our beautiful boat,
Was disabled by a lightning strike
For most of the summer
Calm in the extraordinary
And peaceful rides she gave us
During June and September.

Tumult when two of the most stable appliances, washer and refrigerator
Let you down.
Calm when skilled hands
Replace them with new smooth running models.

Tumult in the frequency
Not to mention necessity of
My frequent visits to doctors offices
Even to the emergency room.
And the calm I sense
As my condition improves.

Tumult in communication and understanding
Among my family
Calm slowly returning
With loving good will

Tumult in that Lynn died.
She had been hastening toward death for quite some time.
Calm in her having passed peacefully.
Tumult in the process of grieving
But calm emerging from the finality
And from the necessity to look beyond
To find suitable resting places
That would honor her and her life.

At Thanksgiving dinner, without my knowing it,
She was in a little box behind me
And the family was together
As she would have wished.

The moon’s many moods
Resonate with mine—these days.
The moon doing battle with neighboring clouds
For who shall provide the brighter light
The clouds with their ability to shroud the moon completely
And in the next moment to amplify and transform
The light’s domain.

The moon steadily there,
Tonight almost full
Unblinking, patient ever present.
For those chaotic clouds,
The source of all their light,
Slowly moving upward in the sky,
Deceptively large.

The sun,
The light’s ultimate source
Not present
Except by reflection on the moon.
The clouds’ presence and their visible structure
Made evident by reflection from the moon
And its position.

The dim glow from the city below
No competition for the
Antics and acrobatics
Of the cloud-moon dance.