To have no fear

 

Picasso, The Youth Circle, 1961

Once upon a time I had no fear
Running was a galloping horse in wind
My mane of hair flowing behind me.
 
Now it takes courage to walk and climb stairs
Moving forward is a snail in a headwind
My head bent over so I can’t see.
 
I am old.  My fear is a soft wariness,
but for too many people, fear is hard,
walking takes courage, and risks death.
 
I ask, for me, what takes more courage:
joining street protests or staying indoors?
One endangers me, one leaves me all alone.
 
I stay home where teams write letters.
and I write poems. Both take courage
not to censure, but to trust the power of words.
 
To send them where they need to go
despite the streams of too many words—
blogged, streamed, performed, printed.
 
Courage comes from cor, or heart in Latin.
I take heart, then, that words of care will
march into the front lines from home.
 
I pray that words will remove 
use of weapons, killing of children,
scarcity of food and water, and rape of earth.
 
I pray words help children run like the wind,
but in play, not in fear.  I pray that people may
walk freely and fearlessly over the earth.

For my prompt "Courage / Fearlessness" at What's Going On? 

 

My blog poems are rough drafts.

Please respect my copyright.

© 2025 Susan L. Chast

Feeling Alive

 

What makes me feel most alive
despite the state of the world?
When I think of times past,
the hiking, dancing, teaching,
directing—I smile.  I feel more
alive than sad, especially
when I share memories with friends
or write them into poems. 
 
And those things I still do, like
reading, writing, and deepening
spiritually.  So grateful am I for trees!
For roaming the internet,
For prayer meetings and for cats.
I feel more alive than pain,
I feel more alive than alone.
I feel more alive than ever.

 

For Sumana's prompt "What makes you feel most alive" at What's Going On? 

 

My blog poems are rough drafts.

Please respect my copyright.

© 2025 Susan L. Chast

Fast cat with no song

 

I have no song for you, Mariah
Precious cat companion,
None except the Good Morning Song
and refrains from Calling the Wind Mariah.
 
I loved how you came to lay down
beside me this morning, something
new.  You sat by me on the couch,
but spurned most intimacies.
 
It was enough, all these years
To watch you play, to run and to hide,
especially when I vacuumed, had
a guest or endured the fire alarm.
 
But nothing would make you leap into my arms
Loving, ferocious black kitty, hungry one
How hard it is to see you reject food.
You drink barrels of water, but won’t eat.
 
Lymphoma, the vet said, my little one,
you’re leaving me soon—as it is said,
crossing the rainbow bridge—and I shall
miss you greatly, the wind we call Mariah.

 My blog poems are rough drafts.

Please respect my copyright.

© 2025 Susan L. Chast

Wearing black, a whimsey

 

source

When I have a choice, I choose black—
I wear black up, down, front, and back
 
In summer, winter, spring, and fall,
I wear black shirts, skirts, pants, and all.
 
And, when it comes to cats, you know
I pick black as panther and crow.
 
My shoes are black, my boots are black,
my ring’s onyx, my watchband’s black.
 
I dreamed I had black hair and eyes,
and when I woke, I was surprised
 
to find they were as brown as ever.
Short of disguise, they’ll be black never.

 

For Mary's prompt "Black or White" at What's Going On? 

My blog poems are rough drafts.

Please respect my copyright.

© 2025 Susan L. Chast

Color guard

 

My Christmas cactus doesn’t bloom
but instead holds its perfect green
leaf stalks up and out of its pot,
looking proud to be safe and seen.
 
It shares a window sill with my
angel wing begonia, leaves green
on the top and red underneath.
It, too, stands tall and safe and seen.
 
My cactus and begonia frame
the tall magnolia tree outside,
not quite naked in its yellow 
dress and carpet of leaves spread wide.
 
Together they remind me to be brave,
that no matter the weather, they’re
holding their own with water and love,
here to keep the peace and clean the air.

For Sherry's prompt "Kinship" at What's Going On? 

 

My blog poems are rough drafts.

Please respect my copyright.

© 2025 Susan L. Chast

A prayer for more life

 

source

Let earth be eternal,
but not unchanging.  Let
life on earth heal itself,
befriending each other
into trustfulness.
 
Let humans survive in
right relationship with
other life, giving up
supremacy to gain
harmony and neighbors.
 
Let each of us be as
mother earth, embracing
difference, giving
and taking just enough in
a gift economy.
 
Let us love earth intact,
finding alternative
ways to meet our needs, not
using up its last land
and squeezing it to death.
 
Let us learn from earth’s own
creatures how to care for
and accept all of us—
so we heal society
and its transgressors.
 
Let us believe in an
ability to learn,
an eternal value
that will help us survive
into integrity.

For my prompt "Eternal / Unchanging" at What's Going On? 

 

My blog poems are rough drafts.

Please respect my copyright.

© 2025 Susan L. Chast