What I learned this week

I made a pineapple pie.
Like the ones at grandma's
from holidays long past.
This time re-imagined,
for the now.

One fresh pineapple
sweetened with some
of the palm sugar
I brought home
from Cambodia.

I save this sugar
for special dishes.
It was delicious.
Simple ingredients
in the right proportions.

I learned that Venus
would shine extra brightly
before the break of dawn
as our celestial paths
around the sun converged.

So I stepped out into the dark
and watched her rise above
the rooftops across the street.
An amber ember to ignite
the day with hope.

I photographed sixty-two
Thai silk shirts or blouses.
Jackets, tunics or tops?
I don't know what to call them.

Each one hand made
for she who wore them
nearly every day she taught.
There was a lesson in that:
Embrace the world, be her lover
and she will embrace you back.

I hung them one by one in the entry,
where the light was right and strong,
and each one was a stepping stone
to help me across the river
from treasured past to gifted present,
the shore ahead emerging through the mist.