PANDEMIC GRATITUDE JOURNAL

 Alison Terjeck

This is a gratitude journal.

Not an ode to terrible things

I say or do to myself sometimes

through the screen of dreams,

others as sun scratches the ceiling

with day’s daunting expectations.

My nails shrug off shortcoming,

dig into my tired thoughts,

remind me to forget I haven’t left

a mark on most things I hoped to.

This will not be the place for that.

 Instead I write buds clustered

on trees, ready to stretch into

leaves as rain reclaims foothills

for efts and frogs. And backordered

oatmeal, delivered at last saved me

 from standing in line—quick breaths

held to my face by damp cloth,

together with everything that makes

me feel like a crushed peanut butter jar

no one wants even now. Instead,

I’m on trail. Here fog masks

my overdue haircut, unfinished

 applications and missing ingredients.

I drag my body uphill towards

the promise of space, caress

of calm —cares encased in water.

Alison Terjek is a writer and mental health advocate living in Northwest CT. She spends her weekends exploring trails throughout New England where she searches for peace and inspiration in the mountains. Her poems have appeared in The Healing Muse, Watershed Review, Peregrine, Appalachian Review, and other journals.