Linda Leedy Schneider

                 for Clara, my grandmother, 1894 –1918

A pot of spaghetti sauce simmers;

streams run like veins

down the steamy kitchen window.

Her hands stained gray,

a girl pulls at pieces of yesterday’s paper,

shreds the words of war,

tears them to confetti

to bless the peace parade tomorrow.

The war to end all wars is over,

but soldiers will bring back Spanish flu

which will make her mother

now adding pasta to a boiling pot

one of the last casualties of that war.

Birthday

There are flowers in this house,

the sensual dance of stargazer lilies,

mums, cosmos, and roses.

It was my birthday Monday,

and my husband brought me

flowers: a bouquet

and a single pink rose

nestled in baby’s breath.

The rose’s leaves turned brown and brittle.

I’ve re-cut the stem and refilled the vase,

but the rose’s pink petals are locked,

beautiful in their way

like the damaged daughter

he gave me,

forever    a bud.

The Bird and the Cymbals

an ekphrastic response to music

Caught in the pulse of the percussion

somewhere between the bells and the cymbals

is a silver bird with a single note

that pleads, Hear me. Listen to my song.

This sky-flyer is held by a repeating beating cycle.

The music calls the winged one,

but leaves her afraid.

Here comes the shimmering shower of the cymbal.

Percussion man, are you playing with this silver bird?

She wants to look again into your cymbals, find

the source of the sound that reminds her of the sea.

She needs to see who she is–who she was

before this song seduced her.

As the music rises to crescendo,

the silver bird spreads her wings wide

beats empty air

then refolds her wings and settles

tries to become a peaceful

one-note bird again.

                                               Linda Leedy Schneider

poems taken from Some Days: Poetry of a Psychotherapist ( Plain View Press 2011)

LINDA LEEDY SCHNEIDER is a poetry and writing mentor, writing workshop 

leader, psychotherapist in private practice, and recipient of a Pushcart nomination. 

Her poetry has been published in over 200 literary magazines.  Linda has written five collections of poetry and edited two poetry anthologies by writers she has mentored privately.