Happy February! The month which brings us Leslie Knope's “best day of the year” (Galentine's Day) is here.

During this pandemic year, many of the partner-less among us (and even some of the partnered) have found the loving companionship (virtual, perhaps, or masked and socially-distanced) of our friends continues to be what best sustains us. This month’s featured poem speaks eloquently to that point - and most specifically to the unique gift of female friendship.

For Cheryl

by bg Thurston

We are Poetry Sisters,

who walk year upon year

past the young apple trees.

This farm keeps to its own

company, far from the world

with its industry of war.

Hot sun, not a ripple reflects

upon the pond’s silence.

Our pens scratch on paper

while a heron preens feathers

in the tallest dead tree.

The pine-needled path ends

at a wooden hut, sitting silent,

empty of intent. Hidden

amid hostas, small statues

reveal themselves, still

mindful on their stones.

We search for Buddha.

Alone on a rock, we find

a hunched green figure

shaded by two trilliums

with their trinity of leaves.

Passing a pile of bleached stones,

I hold one to my chest and feel

its heat against my heart.

As we leave, the heron takes flight,

flapping and fluttering above

peace flags, frayed and torn.

After a career in computers and finance, bg Thurston now lives on a sheep farm in Warwick, Massachusetts. In 2002, she received an MFA in Poetry from Vermont College. She has taught poetry courses at Lasalle College, online at Vermont College, and conducted many poetry workshops.

Her first book, Saving the Lamb, by Finishing Line Press was a Massachusetts Book Awards highly recommended reading choice. Her second book, Nightwalking, was released in 2011 by Haleys. Her third book about the history of her 1770’s farmhouse titled Cathouse Farm will hopefully be published this year. She hopes to return to teaching and editing poetry as soon as the pandemic recedes.