echo

after
the tidal wave breaks
after the tsunami
everything hums
waiting

two car seats
expect passengers
grass
awaits feet

table nearly floats
unladen

animals wander
adrift
pinballs with no bumpers
players gone home.

and yet the fruit ripens on the trees
and tomatoes in the garden;
last week's scraps
crumble in the moist and secret places;

something bends the splint of ash full circle
and the hoop becomes basket
for the harvest yet to come.

waiting

waiting for the sun
is an exercise in shivery patience these days,
facing east like long-dead ancestors
praying to the source of life
each glimmer is hope
each cloud, beautiful menace.
The fire, yes, the fire is there,
but how much more beautiful to be warmed
blinded
by a wave that hurried 93 million miles
just
for me?

momentum

how is it
that the woodstove picks up steam
only as the sun comes out
as the world gets thawed
as everything is
anyway
moving toward heat?
it seems
unfair
or at least
inconvenient.

Still,
it is the way of things.
The more things move
the bigger things get
the more they move
and the bigger they get.

We must only heed
that haste can make waste
and proceed
with due deliberation.

taproot

the beauty of growing slowly
--tendrils which snake around the stones
the seeking sensing slow possibility
of water, here
of nutrient, there
of cells packed hard and tight
--knowing
knowing
there is enough in just breathing
to stuff every inch
and no more

obstructions

it is good to remember.
to breath in.
and breathe out.

this morning
that is challenging.

But the compost is composting
outside my office window,
the sun is shining,
and today is working well despite me.

Sometimes I just have to get out of the way.

blessings

so I arrive at my place of work
with Big Things impending
to find that I have been sent flowers
from far away to
right.here
because a dear friend thought I could use the encouragement.

I sit in gratitude.
I sit in joy.

and I miss those who are not here.
as always, I sit in tension.
as always, both are true.

slippery slope

I am in a bit of trouble. I have been falling into the trap of comparing my creative work to the creative work of others, more experienced and more skilled. Of course, I come up lacking.

This will not help me get better.
That is all.