©2024 Susan Noyes Anderson

Image by Getty Images via Unsplash

Is everyone here filled with dread,
or am I the exception?
These people seem too tranquil for
Oncology reception.

©2024 Susan Noyes Anderson

image by Joshua Earle on Unsplash

I woke up with one thought today,
one bracing bit of spirit wealth:
In life, there is no gift more sweet
than the freedom to be yourself.

©2024 Susan Noyes Anderson

My hair is falling down like rain –
disaster in the making.
These wisps and tendrils, once admired,
are borderline law-breaking.

©2024 Susan Noyes Anderson

image by Scott Webb on Unsplash

We build ourselves just like a house
in this sojourn on earth.
Creatively, we’ve got the skills –
a blessing of our birth.
I’m doing some restructuring
I thought I’d done already.
And yet this house, however loved,
is holding less than steady.

©2024 Susan Noyes Anderson

Getty images GptOZO on Unsplash

A quiet room, a sterile room,
cold womb for the unwilling.
I sat there feeling quite alone,
my cup of sorrow filling.

©2019 Susan Noyes Anderson

image by Walter Chavez on Unsplash

What does Christmas mean to me?
A mother in a manger bed,
a holy infant’s cradled head,
the shepherds and the wise men led.
That’s what Christmas means.

©2024 Susan Noyes Anderson

AI generated image

It’s good, sometimes, to recognize
your fear and give it space,
to realize what’s eating you
so you can give it grace –
to walk into the jungle’s lair
with eyes wide open, knowing
that crocs and cobras watch and wait,
while jaguar eyes are glowing.

©2024 Susan Noyes Anderson

Image by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

I’m attracted to cairns, and
I think I know why.
I do love a good rock, and these
point toward the sky.
The foundation is solid, a
wide, flat, smooth stone –
placed and chosen with care
to bear weight on its own.