Georgette Howington
Life’s Corridor of Surprise
The natural order of disarray
rearranged my life after
I planned it all out
not knowing
the list would not warn me:
about the rain storm in June
washing away all my seeds
or the harlequin’s devouring
the brassica before harvest
or my husband’s death at 42
and our son becoming a swan
never to fly
yet always waiting
on the pond reflecting
a sky filled with
the beating wings
of his own kind.
Georgette Howington is a naturalist, poet and freelance writer living in Northern California. She is the State Assistant Program Director for the California Bluebird Recovery Program. Georgette has published articles in journals such as The North American Bluebird Society, Pacific Horticulture and various local newspapers and nonprofit newsletters. Her poetry is published in Iodine, Poeming Pigeons and recently won Honorable Mention for submission to the Northern California Women’s Festival among others. Georgette often writes about her son who has schizophrenia.