Photo: Ken McMillan/Creative Commons/Flickr

Poet Terri L. French talks middle age and damselflies in two beautiful haiku.

winter solstice
middle age
shifts to the right

As the earth and neighboring planets shuffle around the Milky Way, the seasons emerge, according to which parts of the earth are nearest to or farthest from the sun. Read a number line from left to right and notice where the “middle age” years fall. With each moment, each day, each year – and with some wishful thinking – they slouch farther down the line, into the winter of your life, whether or not you’re ready for it.

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damselfly . . .
let’s become
our own heroes

Outside of storybooks and movies, how many damsels in distress have been rescued by fathers, brothers, or celebrity athletes? With a touch as delicate as a damselfly’s wing, this poem warns us not to wait for…