I was away for the weekend and fell a little behind on posting for the poem-a-day-challenge, but I was keeping along with a few poem starts in my journal. The NaPoWriMo.net prompt for Day 27 asked for a poem using tarot cards and/or their imagery as inspiration. I happened to be visiting a friend that evening, who read a different sort of divination cards for me, so it was an obvious choice for poetic inspiration.

Five Joys a Day

 

A card falls out of the deck as I shuffle.

Dean, today my augur, laughs and sets it under a napkin.

It’ll be your fourth he says, grin across his face.

I am never sure I believe in all these mystical tools,

divination by tarot, angel cards or today, a nature-themed intuitive deck.

But I am open to the idea, or at least find it fun.

Whether it’s truth from some universal font of knowledge,

or convenient interpretation from a friend-turned-soothsayer

who knows me well, I want to believe him

when he holds up the fourth card, rosy pink,

decorated with flouncy hearts

a smiling sun

an outline of a bird

an apple tree

a wishing well

and says, You can achieve your goals if first

you find five joys a day

then sticks in a sharp pin of truth

and if you want to be truly happy

stop watching the news.