Laurie Didesch

Act of Deliverance

While in California, my aunt took me to a tarot card reader
on a pier in Santa Barbara. I had no experience with the occult.
The fortune teller recoiled in horror while reading my cards.
Surprised, I could only sputter in response. Afterwards, the
far reaches of my mind grew dark, sending forth troubling
thoughts. They swept away all sense of calm. I was young,
twenty-one, just starting my life. As my aunt sat on a bench,
I slid off my sandals and walked along the shore. The grains

of sand were warm and coarse. The water gently swept over
my toes. The air was balmy. The elements combined to create
a soothing effect. I have since learned that words of others
need not control our lives. And there is a sustaining power
in the universe be it God or otherwise. I felt it on that stretch
of sand. It transcends both good and bad. So today, many years
later, I soak in all the moment has to offer as a bulwark against
life’s troubles. Even writing this poem is an act of deliverance.

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Evolving Psyche as Barns

Barns rim the fields
in stages of decay. Red
or gray masks a narrow
passage or an airy round.

One a shadow of the next,
our selves emerge,
begin and end with bases
rising from the loam.

Barns take on hints
in the sun. Some loom
3-dimensional while others
seem as cutouts.

Moving toward God,
we leave behind us
one and then another,
signposts.

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Laurie Didesch is an award-winning, self-taught poet. Her work appears or is forthcoming in many journals including The Comstock Review, The White Pelican Review, The MacGuffin, California Quarterly, Ibbetson Street, Rambunctious Review, Third Wednesday, Young Ravens Literary Review, Westward Quarterly, and The Awakenings Review. Her work has also appeared in various anthologies on topics such as Memory, Writing and Grandparents. Her awards include being chosen to attend a juried workshop given by Marge Piercy. Laurie lives in Illinois with her husband Alan and their three cats.

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