Contributor Posts

What words
are these
on my plate?
Must I cease
and write,
no more?

I'll stop,
these words inane,
for when I write,
I feel disdain.

Are these feelings,
I have now,
real or should
I resign and disavow?

It was a beautiful life,
when I was living
with my lovely wife.
Things began to
unravel when she
was diagnosed with
Lung Cancer, Stage 3.
Treatment successful,
in remission eight years
but the ravages of Chemo,
took its toll. Diagnosed
with Early Onset Dementia,
January 2017. Early warning
signs, of memory loss,
unable to balance the check book,
appeared in 2015.
New diagnosis of Advanced
Vascular Dementia-Alzheimer
Disease. Moved to a Memory
Care facility, January 2022.
I live in the same facility
but one floor separating us.
I see her, almost every day,
trying to have dinner with
her. It is a moment I need,
probably more than she.
There is no recollection of
being at the same Dining Room,
same table, for over a month.
It has become difficult for her
to make small decisions when
eating food. She will say,
"What do I do?" I help her
and explain what she is eating.
She won't remember that in the
next few minutes. I see her
frustration and it pains me,
knowing I have lost this person
who I love.

Be still the night,
free up the pain.
Brighten my soul,
once more. Again.

The ravages of Hell
have seized my life.
The pain within me,
Dementia in my wife.

What will I do
when I can't see,
you beside
heartbroken me?

I love you so,
my sweet wife.
I will always love,
until the end of life.

Alone, now am I,
seeing you in evening time.
It's always my wish
to be with you to dine.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

This cosmic expanse of dust, gas, and stars covers some 6 degrees on the sky in the heroic constellation Perseus. At upper left in the gorgeous skyscape is the intriguing young star cluster IC 348 and neighboring Flying Ghost Nebula with clouds of obscuring interstellar dust cataloged as Barnard 3 and 4. At right, another active star forming region NGC 1333 is connected by dark and dusty tendrils on the outskirts of the giant Perseus Molecular Cloud, about 850 light-years away. Other dusty nebulae are scattered around the field of view, along with the faint reddish glow of hydrogen gas. In fact, the cosmic dust tends to hide the newly formed stars and young stellar objects or protostars from prying optical telescopes. Collapsing due to self-gravity, the protostars form from the dense cores embedded in the molecular cloud. At the molecular cloud's estimated distance, this field of view would span over 90 light-years.

Photo by Jack Groves

This enchilada recipe is a tasty way to repurpose carnitas or pork leftovers and transform them into another delicious meal for the family. Read more

Demented the soul,
before it began.
Demented the soul,
the aged man.

Cure all your ills,
before it began.
If you are guilty,
it's good you ran.

Dry the flame of jealousy's
internal heat supply,
for the interest of another,
causing tempers to fly.

Wishes of others,
the insults too,
will always be
about them, not about you.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

The scene may look like a fantasy, but it's really Iceland. The rock arch is named Gatklettur and located on the island's northwest coast. Some of the larger rocks in the foreground span a meter across. The fog over the rocks is really moving waves averaged over long exposures. The featured image is a composite of several foreground and background shots taken with the same camera and from the same location on the same night last November. The location was picked for its picturesque foreground, but the timing was planned for its colorful background: aurora. The spiral aurora, far behind the arch, was one of the brightest seen in the astrophotographer's life. The coiled pattern was fleeting, though, as auroral patterns waved and danced for hours during the cold night. Far in the background were the unchanging stars, with Earth's rotation causing them to appear to slowly circle the sky's northernmost point near Polaris. Your Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday? (post 1995)

Photo by Stefano Pellegrini