This might be my favorite of the year. Read it about 5 times. Sat with it. Drank my coffee with it. My time-traveling, old-soul baby, this was gorgeous. I felt the exhaustion. I felt the wisdom. "Even my happiness feels ancient." The exhale I made when I read that line!!! I so admire the way you move through life. Your depth, your awareness. It's exquisite.
Jenovia, I love the way you describe reading a poem not once but living with it for a while, letting it accompany your coffee and your thoughts. Your reaction highlights something special about Caroline's writing: it creates an atmosphere that invites reflection rather than demanding interpretation. The line about "ancient happiness" stayed with me as well because it carries both weariness and wonder in the same breath, which is part of what makes the poem so memorable. Thank you for sharing such a thoughtful appreciation of her work and the impact it had on you.
Ohh how I have missed reading your work, Caroline! There is this beautiful and haunting sweeping rhythm that reminds me of the feeling of wearing a floor length dress or skirt and gliding through a space. Just beautiful!
Maurissa, your description is beautiful because it captures the experience of reading the poem as much as the poem itself. That image of a floor-length dress gliding through a space mirrors the way Caroline moves between memory, reflection, and ordinary life with such fluidity and grace. The piece carries a haunting quality, but it never feels heavy; it feels as though it is drifting through time, gathering meaning as it goes. Thank you for putting words to the rhythm and elegance that make her writing so distinctive.
Caroline, this poem captures a feeling that is difficult to describe and instantly recognizable once named. The line about surviving something no one remembers happening stayed with me because it speaks to those seasons when our inner lives seem to carry a different chronology than the calendar does. I was also struck by the contrast between the timeless, almost spectral quality of the reflection and the ordinary acts of making coffee, feeding the dog, and answering emails; those small rituals become anchors that keep us connected to the present even when part of us feels suspended elsewhere. Thank you for giving language to a form of dislocation that many people experience but rarely know how to articulate.
This might be my favorite of the year. Read it about 5 times. Sat with it. Drank my coffee with it. My time-traveling, old-soul baby, this was gorgeous. I felt the exhaustion. I felt the wisdom. "Even my happiness feels ancient." The exhale I made when I read that line!!! I so admire the way you move through life. Your depth, your awareness. It's exquisite.
YOU ARE THE BEST!! Being ancient isn’t too bad 😂🥰
Jenovia, I love the way you describe reading a poem not once but living with it for a while, letting it accompany your coffee and your thoughts. Your reaction highlights something special about Caroline's writing: it creates an atmosphere that invites reflection rather than demanding interpretation. The line about "ancient happiness" stayed with me as well because it carries both weariness and wonder in the same breath, which is part of what makes the poem so memorable. Thank you for sharing such a thoughtful appreciation of her work and the impact it had on you.
Ohh how I have missed reading your work, Caroline! There is this beautiful and haunting sweeping rhythm that reminds me of the feeling of wearing a floor length dress or skirt and gliding through a space. Just beautiful!
So so grateful for your presence! Ughhhh give me some 70s flowing chiffon!
Maurissa, your description is beautiful because it captures the experience of reading the poem as much as the poem itself. That image of a floor-length dress gliding through a space mirrors the way Caroline moves between memory, reflection, and ordinary life with such fluidity and grace. The piece carries a haunting quality, but it never feels heavy; it feels as though it is drifting through time, gathering meaning as it goes. Thank you for putting words to the rhythm and elegance that make her writing so distinctive.
There's a freedom in being "untethered" which more than makes up for the possibility of bumping into things. 😉
Love the idea of the spirit traveling from afar to meet the moment.
Caroline, this poem captures a feeling that is difficult to describe and instantly recognizable once named. The line about surviving something no one remembers happening stayed with me because it speaks to those seasons when our inner lives seem to carry a different chronology than the calendar does. I was also struck by the contrast between the timeless, almost spectral quality of the reflection and the ordinary acts of making coffee, feeding the dog, and answering emails; those small rituals become anchors that keep us connected to the present even when part of us feels suspended elsewhere. Thank you for giving language to a form of dislocation that many people experience but rarely know how to articulate.
Wow, what a wonderfully thoughtful comment! Thank you for sitting with my words!
I felt this. I'll have to read again. Wow!
Thank you so, Jane!!
You're welcome!
Keep shinning poet!