This week I am challenging myself to grow by speaking with people I don't know with the hope that I will make a heart connection. The world needs each of us to show up. Whatever you have got to give, don't doubt the value of giving it.
During this one day of balanced light, I feel a lack of evenness. I’m ok with this. Acceptance has befriended me. I used to believe in a balanced lifestyle. I pushed and pulled my daily life to create this ideal. Now I am no longer focused on this achievement. Instead, I am chasing aliveness like a kite must feel the wind. I wish for floating and exhilaration to be part of my journey but I don’t expect it always. I am no longer keeping score of ups and downs and the need for them to equal out weekly. I am taking it as it comes with the hopeful intention of keeping my noticing alive. My noticing of a leaf color like a work of art. My noticing the clouds visiting the sky. My noticing of the tender light of dusk turning even the harsh landscapes golden. Tomorrow will hold a little more darkness yet some nights there will be stars.
This poem is dedicated to my friend, Valerie. Her laugh is steadfast and generous. It always makes my heart smile. Whose laugh lights up your day? I hope you will let them know.
Join a welcoming group of poets at dVerse Poets' Pub for this poetics challenge. You can visit HERE.
And the rhythm continues, yellow round, orange round, red tiny parts of bright aliveness making up the whole. Are the boundaries holding us together or separating us by hue?
Each is playing a part in the view. One beside the other, next two, in front of, beside. Are we leaning unequally or holding each other up?
How far would we need to back up before seeing the whole picture? Remember up close never looks the same as from across the room.
Squint your eyes a little. Now look again.
Notice how the colors grow toward midnight as it meets in the center. Could this be a reminder to see darkness as a place to rest maybe even a place of beauty instead of fighting our way to where we think we belong?
You are invited to dVerse Poets’ Pub to write something beautiful in response to this artwork by Alma Thomas, The Eclipse (1970). Join in the fun HERE. Thank you, Melissa, for getting me writing today. It felt like releasing a big sigh and the air returned to fill my lungs without effort.
Somewhere near the produce between the oranges and tumbling peppers a song, Ed Sheeran is singing and the tears arrive, as I listen. (I don't usually cry in public but the emotion is undeniable.)
I am still as a river rock, while the shoppers flow around, struck by hearing the words I couldn't hear before. I let their message in feeling what you were trying to say. What I was unable to receive before.
I don't care that I am crying next to the bananas.
Photo taken in Portland, Oregon on my hike of "appreciating the flowering trees" this past weekend. They remind me to love big. I hope they inspire you to reach out to someone you have been missing.
A big thank you to editor Barbara Leonhard for publishing my poem, Words For Sale. This poem considers the value of poetry and the possibilities that a poem can offer. I invite you to visit MasticadoresUsa to read the poem, enjoy the poetry of others, and share your thoughts.
Thank you to all the readers that help keep poetry alive.
flashlight batteries - Ali Grimshaw 