Tedi Zimmermann

I was a professional singer, vocal instructor,and arts administrator for decades. I retired and decided to pick up my creative writing and began taking classes at a local university. I have published in several anthologies. Creativity is ageless!

Tedi Zimmermann

Finding Home

Tedi Zimmermann

1 min read

I have had many homes.

Cold places, hot places, cities and country

And each I can reconstruct

From memories of good times and bad.

They were places to live,

Places to grow children and plants,

Clean and cook and ignore

When the darkness reached me.

But all that was in the past

When you came into my life.

I didn’t want what you offered,

Too burned, too wary,

But you were simply there

And let me b...

Poetry

On The Safari

Tedi Zimmermann

1 min read

She stretches her neck high up to the trees,

Standing on legs like sticks.

Spread apart, and the knobby knees.

I check to see which leaves she picks.

I laugh. She’s put together all wrong,

But what a wondrous sight.

She wears her spots like a delicate sarong

That enwraps her amazing height....

Summer Of Love

Tedi Zimmermann

1 min read

We made the signs and walked the walk.

“Make Love Not War” is what we cried.

How many years have now passed?

How many thousands have now died?...

Poetry

When?

Tedi Zimmermann

1 min read

Normal as a boy, typical kid.

Even as a teenager he was okay.

The darkness began around twenty

And by his forties he was in deep.

What started it?

Who or what or when or why?

The urge to do evil,

To hurt and control,

To disregard the good

And nurture the bad?

He looked in a mirror and sighed.

Some days he avoided it,

But never did he question it.

It just was.

It was a mystery to him,

The thing no...

Poetry

Where Boredom Leads

Tedi Zimmermann

3 min read

The four of them sat at their usual table in the back corner of Auntie Mary’s Tea Shoppe. They had a pot of tea in a floral cosy in the center of the table, four porcelain cups in saucers, and a plain scone on each plate. No one was sipping, though, and only Eunice was breaking off bits of the scone.

“Damn, but I’m bored to tears.”

Eunice, Deborah and Bernice swung their heads around and stared ...

It Was All Magical

Tedi Zimmermann

4 min read

The old bookstore had always been my escape, but today it felt different, almost magical. I had pushed upen the old, heavy oak door and the bell tinkled as usual, but the light seemed strange. It was hitting some odd bit of crystal or a prism hidden away on a shelf, and there were bits of rainbow thrown about the dark wood floor. I paused, thinking how lovely it all looked, and even the dust motes...

What Is Growing Up?

Tedi Zimmermann

1 min read

Let’s talk about growing up,

Does it mean years spent?

Or does it mean wisdom learned?

Can it tell us our height?

Our weight?

How our hair changes

Ane our skin wrinkles?

Musing here about that term

Growing up.

When I was a child I dreamed

About growing up and being big.

It meant freedom to me to just be.

Adults didn’t report to anybody

For bed time or play time or anything

It seemed to me.

Then...

Poetry

The First Time Ever

Tedi Zimmermann

1 min read

I disn’t want to go to the get together but Kara convinced me to go with her to save her from having no one to talk to. It was a work thing and she assured me we’d only stay for one drink. That’s where I saw him; at the bar, leaning on the edge checking out the room. It was the old cliche about “our eyes met and…” But it actually was that way. I saw him, he saw me, and I stopped my forward movemen...

When She Changed

Tedi Zimmermann

1 min read

She stood on the hill and looked into the valley. The devastation was complete. She didn’t need to find her way back to the village because there was nothing to go back to. Her brain could hardly comprehend what she was seeing, and her heart hurt in a way that defied words. The dog, her companion, whined and she put her hand on his head.

“Easy, boy.”

He looked up at her, a feeble wag of his tail...

Missed Opportunity

Tedi Zimmermann

1 min read

I heard he had died.

I paused for a moment,

My eyes a bit glassy

With unshed tears.

It was all so long ago;

My first real crush.

I was overwhelmed

With unexplored feelings

And while aching for him

I was so hesitant,

So unable to jump in

And see where it would go.

Conversation, a kiss

Long hugs that I broke off,

Frightened of my need,

And questioning it all.

So I journeyed back in time

And had suc...