Unexpected Leopards
Part of the trouble is that I’ve never properly understood that some disasters accumulate, that they don’t all land like a child out of an apple tree. Janet Burroway, American writer, b. 1937
Each day, so much goes right.
I find my keys, there is ample
hot water and food, the neighbors smile.
Still, you just never know. Things
can go wrong more ways than leopards
have spots. Trouble can crouch
and spring from shadows you don’t
even see. Last year, one by one, four people
dear to me died. Though
they were elderly, each death
knocked me flat. Inside me, right now,
is a singing joy. It is gigantic,
like a huge blue rooster, ready
to break open a new dawn. And yet,
something else could be waiting
overhead, breathing with quiet
malevolence. Really, how
can we ever know?
Leslie Schultz
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Dear Beth,
This is a luscious cluster of thoughtful comments. I am humbled and exalted to have readers who look at my work with such care. Thank you! Leslie
This poem has leaped into one of my very favorite of yours, Leslie. Perhaps it is because I know of the challenges the last year has held for you. Perhaps it is because I, too, have been sideswiped by unexpected events that have rocked my quiet life. But if “trueness” or “honesty” is a quality of great value in writing, it rings through in a crisp clear melody in this poem.
Great point!
Amen to the message that leopards that seem peaceful or docile, but then spring into vigorous action and take out some beautiful créature. But then again, the leopard has always been worn on some unconscious model’s back.