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Cover: Photo of Martha Silano

https://playasummerlake.org

Saying Goodbye to a Poet
Martha Silano (1961-2025)

espalier tree climbs garage wall
where grief bears fruit
for the gone poet

rock climb entrance
for book launch to nosh
on a Jersey girl’s Northwest life

her poem about autocorrect
might call grief garden
a green arbor

wildflower sprigs
on tables in vases
family calls her mama

shaky ALS voice
butterfly flutter
strong voices remember

words under a canopy
dessert on a white plate
catering grief

paddle boarder
who spread waves of kindness
found secrets of forest floor

no offense
but the teacher always knew
nothing’s permanent but love

she told us she cherished life
in a poem
about her last ferry ride

now she’s off in the cosmos
coming to visit
as a Steller’s jay

•

Mary Ellen Talley © 2025

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Cover photo by author

• 

1.
Clocks tick
as sunflowers
reach tall to blossom

Sun trails the fence line
while a season
makes changes

The oncology nurses
are pros
at what they do

2.
Bushy tailed squirrels
scamper fence posts
to find a moon of ripe seeds

Laden with rain
one sunflower
falls on a sidewalk

Protocol demands
clean non-latex gloves
for every procedure

5.
Bouquets
and single flowers
crowd plastic buckets

Sunflowers sell
for three dollars
a stem

Time is the silent
infusion
the catheter drips

6.
Autumn rain falls
into the open flower
cup

Spent flowers
will mulch into fresh plantings
next season

No reason more
than healing
to persuade blessing

•

Mary Ellen Talley © 2024