Tincture for Writer's Block

Five movies. Five books.
Three myths or fairytales.
Ten friends. Four homes.
Six subjects you want
to live long enough to study.
Seven foods to cook for family.

What horrified your parents?
What made them scold you?
What was forbidden,
what ways of life?
How did you know?
What did they do?
When did you cease
to be a child?
How did you finally
become an adult?

List fortunate accidents.
Lucky breaks.
Ideas. Causes.
Institutions you challenged.
Enemies you fought.
Vows you made.
Vows you have broken.
Tell me when
you told your first lie.

How have you been hurt?
How have you been helped?
How have you helped in return?
How have you helped in return?

Just as language is a carrier of meanings, a tincture is a liquid carrier for the healing components of an herb. What tinctures have you applied to get back into flow?

Weather Watch

Heavy snow and roads
so icy, cars swim
through shoals of frozen fog.
I turn around
three miles out,
retreat to my cabin
in the North Hills.

Through the round window
a triangle of blue
surrounded by roses
of clouds unfolding--
beyond a darker swath
blurs the horizon
warning of more storm.

Frivolous to write
of nothing but weather
when soldiers follow orders
to drop bombs on strangers,
when families leave blankets
in homes claimed by bankers,
when the bright river where we
once caught rainbow trout
with our bare hands, now
swills with brackish foam.

But mountains spew themselves
to sand, the mightiest pine
will blaze up into ashes,
while this sky abides,
the most constant presence,
even as it folds inward
and pelts the roof with hail.