Ellen Symons, Author

Writing Spaces

  • How I’ve failed at meditation

    I’ve been failing at meditation for a solid twenty years. Alright. I suspect it isn’t possible to ‘fail’ at meditation, but I have walked away, frustrated, over and over again. Conversely, of course, that means I have come back ‘to the mat’ over and over again. Something in me has persisted in believing that there… Read more

  • The cardinal announces

    His bright voice swoops through bare branches, spreads across the grass, Woosh, and he sits on the wood fence head bold as a warning throat an unquenchable fire wings like an ambush Zooming across the garden to his brown-and-rose mate at the top of the stark old maple he proclaims the day’s beginning. Read more

  • The Garden, Uncovered

    When the cardinal called out – his song like drops of light spilling over a dawn field – I ran outside that first day of his voice as Spring’s soft sun opened the heart of the brisk, grey winds I ran to answer him then stopped astonished at the tender, naked garden suddenly uncovered: after… Read more

  • and wakes in April

    All winter the lawn has loafed under its thick white quilt and wakes in April, tousle-headed, crusty-edged, and with the freshest shoots of weeds curled cheekily in its damp, bare places. Afternoon sun, a stiff rake, and the layabout sits, chastened, scrubbed and alert: waiting to don a new green suit. Read more

  • The Travelling Onion

    To the Muses, with love, 2005 “And I would never scold the onion for causing tears.”* The onion does what it does. We each must live this way. The small tears you have caused me the days of laughter they are of my own making yet they are yours; you must love the way you… Read more

  • Household parade

    Like floats in the holding area, cats sprawl on hardwood, tails flicking. Woman puts her feet on the floor, pushes out of bed, starts to the hallway, rubbing her tousled head. Cats leap into formation, trotting behind, long tails waving, proud victorious flags. Read more

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