The Hills So Green
I resigned from my job
on my late mother’s birthday,
the hills so dry,
so dense the underbrush,
that where I pushed my way
the giant hush
was changed to soft explosion,
news of my next chapter
creating chasms of emotion
retirement, a new frontier
she didn’t reach that meaningful day,
the hills so dry,
so dense the underbrush,
her body losing ground each day
the giant hush
became her final breath, implosion,
she had no next chapter
creating chasms of emotion
I harness her joy and verve
for my retirement, a gateway –
the hills so green,
so welcoming the underbrush
her legacy shows me the way
her steady paintbrush
illustrated courage, devotion,
emulating her is my next chapter
inside chasms of emotion
her legacy shows me the way
emulating her is my next chapter
the hills so green,
still alive
from her paintbrush
Today’s dVerse Poets Pub prompt is to write a prose piece of up to 144 words (although I bent the rules a bit because my creation found its form in verse instead of prose). You had to include this line: “The hills so dry, so dense the underbrush, that where I pushed my way the giant hush was changed to soft explosion.” The punctuations can be changed, but not the order, and no insertions are allowed. I love the constraints of the structure, which empower creative ideas to flow.
And flow, they did.
Today would have been my mother’s 86th birthday, and it seems so aligned with the universe that I gave notice of my retirement today.
She would have been so happy for me.
I am so happy to have had her as my role model.
Life is perfectly occuring, a friend of mine says, but you don’t always know it when it’s happening.
Today, I know it.
I know it and I thank my Mom for her amazing courage and tenacity.
She’s profiled here, if you’re interested.
I’m also grateful to the crowd at dVerse for these meaningful opportunities to create poetry as a form of self-expression, and to Sanaa especially, for today’s prompt, which you can find here: A View from the Hills. If you love poetry, go read the other poems, which you can find here in Mr. Linky.
©️ 2026, Glover Gardens
I hope you have a wonderful retirement. My advice, travel and see and experience as much as you can while you still have the energy for it.
Thank you so much for the great advice! I will adhere to it closely.
Just retired myself, and it will be nice to fill days with meaning… but it is also hard when you drive everytrhing yourself
Meaningfulness beckons us! Let’s share what we learn with each other… the best practices for ‘driving everything ourselves’. I’m sure there are some traps and tricks.
Welcome to the retirement club, Kim. Fill your days with fun, love and wonder.
I mean to, Kim! All advice welcome, BTW.
Tai chi and aqua aerobics are excellent for sleep and general health, balance, that sort of thing. A book club is great for meeting new people and reading books you might not ordinarily choose. Walking and discovering new places on foot.
Great advice, thank you! You’ll probably see the evidence that I’ve taken it in upcoming posts.
And I am so happy for you! I’m sure you will find many exciting things to do out there and you will wonder how you fitted work in. A cliché, but true.
Cliches are often true! Thanks for the kind words, and as I said to Kim above, all advice is welcome!
Find something that you are interested in volunteering for, where you can still be part of a team. That was very important to me having worked with people all my life. BUT you also have to learn to take a step back because it’s no longer your show.
Love how you framed that… and I see the wisdom.
Enjoy.
Thank you! That’s my plan. 😊
Dearest Kim, such a beautiful picture of your beautiful momma. I knew her as Nancy & Frank, you Kimmie & Stevie. I visited with Nathan, Ruthie & Tom. Yes i am Sharon & its sure been a while! They were always so happy to see us, showing all their latest projects! Everything they were working on was amazing. Gilchrist wasnt very big but that beach! So fun! Thank you for the memories.⛱️⛱️⛱️
O wow, it HAS been a long time, but I am honored and awestruck that you visited and by your shared memories of my lost loved ones. How very, very kind of you to comment here, Sharon. I treasure your words. I have those memories, too. When Steve and I were very small, you taught us the cheeky comment, “I’ll buy that!” I remember you as sweetness and light, as well as 60s elegance. Namaste.
A beautiful poem to honour your mother, Kim, and I love the photos of both of us. You both radiate such light 🤍
Thank you so much! That is probably one of my fave compliments EVER.
Beautiful pictures of you and your mom, Kim.
Thank you! I loved putting us in the same space, digitally, since it can’t happen in reality any more. But they never really leave us, do they? They just take a different form.
You are very welcome, and I like your perspective on the matter. You’re right, they are always with us <3
This is gorgeously rendered! I love the use of repetition which makes the entirety of the poem even more heartfelt and moving. ❤️❤️❤️
Thank you so much! I’m still learning so much about poetry but repetition is one of my favorite tools. Kind of like song lyrics. I feel the rhythm of life in repeated verse.
Wonderful verse. And a pretty nice photograph!
Thank you so much, on both counts!