RESOLUTION FROM MY MOTHER

Put away the language of disaster, 
of trauma.  Banish the words choke and weep, 
ache and sob, flood and quake, those seismic names 
we use to clothe our suffering, to voice 
our loss, to reinforce our agony.  
Open a new dictionary that brims 
with the vocabulary of delight. 
Give yourself permission to speak in joy 
through all four seasons of the heart.  Yes, make
with your breath the happiness you want. 
Use your words to carve out pleasure from life, 
to celebrate it, to call it to you, 
to carry with you always your own spring.

After 37 years of teaching high school English, Cecil Morris has turned his attention to writing poetry.  He has poems appearing in 2River View, Cobalt Review, Ekphrastic Review, Hiram Review, Hole in the Head Review, and Poem.  He likes ice cream (Cherry Garcia!) too much and cruciferous vegetables too little for his own good.