REJECTION

He sent some poems away to magazines,

and soon they all returned with frowns, and said

they were rejected. He was sad because

they were his friends, these modest groups

of simple words, and so he set them in the light

and let them glow again the way they did

when they had first appeared inside his mind

like lilting dancers or singers singing songs

he’d never heard. They seemed to smile again,

these small unwanted poems, and so he smiled,

and then the world spun again and sent

him several new and tuneful twirling poems.

GREAT STORIES

I was saying to Delycia this morning that the recent events in the life of one of our friends would make a great story, and shortly after, I found myself thinking about some other great stories surrounding us. There’s the story of why the sun shines the way it does day after day, the story of how night knows just when to start its stars shining, the story of this spinning, handsome earth and its inhabitants, the story of a single spider on a shaking web beside the house. There’s the story of how a new breath brings new life to both of our lungs, the story of our muscles somehow showing our bodies how to move, and the story of our bones bearing our weight with reasonable ease. These are stunning little everyday stories that make our lives – and all lives -- great in different and distinctive ways.  

SHE HOPES SHE CAN HELP

"Coffee Shop",
watercolor,
by Nita Leger Casey

She always tries to pour a perfect cup

of coffee. She cares about her customers,

about their sorrows and their unfolding

futures. The steam from the coffee

floats upward like her feelings for Frank,

who comes in at five minutes to five every

morning to improve his life a little.

She hopes she can help him by handing him

a flawless cup of coffee as the sun lifts

itself and lets the new day start. She

smiles because she knows there will be

another customer for her after Frank.

FOLLOWING THOUGHTS

FOLLOWING THOUGHTS

If you follow a thought,

you could find where it goes

and what it does.

It’s fairly easy.

You can simply stand somewhere,

perhaps on a promising morning,

and just release a thought,

be it scary or joyous,

worrisome or soothing,

and just watch where it goes,

and then follow it.

Stay close enough

so you see its special colors

as it steps along

through the universe of thoughts,

and soon enough,

it will slip off

into nothingness, and then,

standing restful and

separate from your thoughts,

you can set another one free

and follow it, just

for fun and instruction.

WHEN YOU FEEL OLD

WHEN YOU FEEL OLD

You could speak to strangers like

you love them. You could carry

someone’s loneliness and discover

you can do it. You could speak

a friend’s name and know it would

be known by the birds in her garden.

You could give the gift of listening

to someone who’s struggling, and you

could struggle, when you have to,

like it’s not a struggle, but a test

you’ve studied for and will ace.

A PERFECT MORNING

A PERFECT MORNING

"Morning at Pratt Rock",
acrylic
by Jamie Williams Grossman

It was a perfect morning. The lamplight

in the living room looked precisely

like it had to look, and the table cloth

was wrinkled in all the right places.

His fingers were impeccably old, his

breathing whistled in quintessential ways,

and his heartbeats splendidly shuffled

on this thoroughly immaculate morning.

SIGNALS

"Morning Moon", oil,
by Carol Keene

SIGNALS

The sky stood up one morning

and made a signal to him,

like people might make

when happiness is holding them.

It was a September sky

with blueness so bright

it brought him a blessing

as he sipped his coffee,

and he signaled back

to the sky that he too

was happy and hoped

the sky and he

would stay that way. 

Saturday 9/13/14

Thursday 9/11/14

Wed., Sept 10, 2014

I DONT NEED MUCH

“I DON’T NEED MUCH”

(Elizabeth D., age 62)

“I don't need much. The sun shining

for even a short time on a dark day

is fine for me. A glass of shining water

in my hand, a piece of toast

perfectly prepared, the sound of footsteps

in soft snow - all these are enough

to bring a feeling of fulfillment.

I eat my meals from a small plate

on a small table. One simple window

in the kitchen lets in a lovely light

which always seems to surround my table

and my small plate with optimism.”

WALKING WITH A FRIEND

"Intimate Friends":,
oil on birch panel
by Gerald Schwartz

WALKING WITH A FRIEND

Walking with his best friend on a summer day

is a new beginning for him. It’s a way

of getting gifts from the sunshine,

a way of seeing a sure sign

that there are more smiles than smirks

in this world. He feels the works

of love inside them as they walk,

hears the sounds of quietness as they talk.

He sometimes feels like he’s flying,

especially when the trees are sighing

in friendship while they walk. The gate

called Peace opens for them. They create

a brand new world for each other, a rebirth

each moment of him and her and the earth.

THE GRACEFULNESS IN LIFE

THE GRACEFULNESS IN LIFE

(what Millie, age 69, said at Rocky Neck Beach)

 

"Leading Edge", oil on panel,
by Robin Cheers

I lost a loved one years ago,

but this beach will be with me forever.

I live in a small house now,

but this sandy shore is my home,

this holy place of pretty birds

and waves that wash ashore

with so much style. My son died

of alcohol poisoning at seventeen,

but sometimes I still see Stevie

sliding toward me on the surf.

He bought a surfboard at fifteen,

and flowed with the waves

as gracefully as anyone ever has.

Now, I come to this beautiful beach

to live my elderly life

with the smoothness of Stevie’s surfing,

to see the gracefulness in life

that doesn’t need beer to be seen.

THE CLEAREST LIGHT

(what Jennie O., age 66, a clerk at the supermarket, said)

“I see lots of sad people at the store,

folks who have forgotten how full of kindness

life can be. I can’t blame them, of course,

since I’m sure they’ve seen enough suffering

to switch off all the light in their lives.

I like my job because maybe I can bring

some sunlight into their overcast lives, just

for a second or two. Simply a smile from me

can maybe make someone see the kindness

that cares for all of us, always, except

that sometimes we don’t notice it. I send out

my friendship to every shopper, especially

the ones whose sorrow seems to surround them.

I hand them their receipt, and a smile,

because kindness is the clearest light.”