For Joan

It’s black raspberry season,

She exclaims with gleeful delight!

Joan seems to understand these things.

Her command of time in sync with

Nature’s rhythms.

In other words, there is no time,

Just a gentle unfolding

When temperature, resources, and planets align

For this magical manifestation.

An instigator of fun,

She likes a good laugh

The kind that might get you a sharp pinch in church

If it were too loud.

To me, she is mirth embodied

Brimming over, spilling forth

Like the musical laugh of her first born

Great grandchild, Liam.

A wellspring of love

Her heart is as deep blue,

wide as the ocean,

The ocean surrounding Turks and Caicos, to be exact.

An unimaginable blue, so I’ve been told.

A natural storyteller

She weaves detail into a rich tapestry

As brightly colored as a bag of Russell Stover jelly beans

Until you feel like you know all of the characters

And their idiosyncrasies.

Bringer of joy

To all who know her

Ferociously curious, open and kind

I’m grateful that I get to call her friend.