Jeanie Greensfelder: California Poets Part 11, Four Poems

Jeanie Greensfelder

October 20th, 2026

California Poets: Part XI

Jeanie Greensfelder

Four Poems

Visiting Earth     

In my forties to intensify being alive

I imagined I’d been given one day on earth

and woke to the magic of towering trees, 

the smell of roses and jasmine,

a breeze embrace, the sun’s warmth. 

In my eighties, my number of days 

to visit here diminishes. With senses 

dimmed, memory and attention help.

With every wobble, the fall looms,

and the next mystery creeps closer.

I smile at this journey, smile at myself, 

grateful to have experienced the seesaw 

of life that exists on this unique planet

that has granted me many delicious days.

I wish it a happily ever after.

Thoughts on a Walk at Dawn     

On my walk as the sun rises,

mockingbirds sing the day to life,

crows fly, and turkey vultures soar, 

sniffing the air, deciding where to dine.

As shades rise and houses brighten, 

I wonder at this world that wakes

and sleeps—somewhere always 

light, somewhere always dark.

Days come and go as I count

weeks, months, and years 

pondering my place in this cosmos

over thirteen billion years old.

Night belongs to nocturnal beings.

From my bed, I hear owls hoot

and at times a smell tells me

an annoyed skunk is near.

When a plane flies too close,

the sound evokes bombs dropping,

our many wars, and how I live

this curious life with a slice of luck.

Reincarnation    

I look through my old journals

wondering who wrote these pages

leaving me feeling I’ve had many 

past lives with different bodies 

and minds, familiar, yet strange,

on this human journey. 

There was the good girl, hands folded

on her desk at school, popcorn at 

cowboy matinees, and bouncing a ball 

with no awareness of growing up.

The teen anxious to look “with it.”

Wanting to be wanted, and though

voted friendliest, wearing her cashmere,  

and winning awards, she still felt empty. 

For years I thought if I was perfect,

my world would go smoothly.

Failed on both counts.

I see foolish choices and mistakes

followed by days of heartfelt angst.

Yet those lives that kept searching 

led me to this one. 

Soon another life, in a decade or a day,

will look back and wonder about me.

Looking for Van Gogh     

Like periscopes,

sunflower stalks rise, 

buds burst, 

and their heads turn, 

seeking that swirl master

who once painted

their golden blooms 

and left them

dazzled.

Author Bio:

Jeanie Greensfelder served as San Luis Obispo County poet laureate, 2017,18. Her poems have been published at American Life in Poetry, Writer’s Almanac, and as a Poetry Foundation Poem of the Day; in anthologies: Paris, Etc., Pushing the Envelope: Epistolary Poems; in journals: Miramar, Thema, Askew, Persimmon Tree, and others. A Pushcart nominee, Jeanie’s books are: Biting the Apple, Marriage and Other Leaps of Faith, I Got What I Came For, and Time Traveler. A psychologist, she seeks to understand herself and others on this shared journey, filled, as Joseph Campbell wrote, with sorrowful joys and joyful sorrows.  jeaniegreensfelder.com