Morning Sensations

Warbling, chirping birdcalls
just before eyes edge open
sound preparation for morning skies

Hushed drip-dripping
at the edges of dreams offers
a soundly prepared weather report

Coffee aroma
wafting gently and darkly
tastefully prepares buds to awaken

Cold tiles against bare feet
shocking awareness of place
prepares newly awakened to step forward

Eyes open, peek at curtains edge
matching hearing and aroma to sight
further preparation for morning ritual.

In only a few seconds
morning senses have begun
to prepare us for the day ahead.

“Seeing, hearing and feeling are miracles, and 

each part of me is a miracle.”

~ Walt Whitman

Branching Out

Preparations grow,           

within moments, hours and days,

branching trees to climb.

“I try to be like a forest: revitalizing and constantly growing.”

~ Forest Whitaker

Strength

“Play to your strengths” Old Mad-Eye growled.
Harry Potter looked askance.
A gigantic dragon was to be fought!

Preparing to meet a new challenge,
like facing a fire breathing dragon
beckons a ‘play to your strengths’

Sudden challenges call forth 
strength unknown and untested.
Distant challenges for strength slowly built

But sometimes a set challenge
when a night was short and a day job is long
finds no strength to be gathered at all.

“That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Side Effects

Preparations done each day,
do not prepare any family for the loss of a loved one.

Addiction and drug abuse blackens souls, 
shreds minds and dissolves bodies, tearing them
from families, friends and communities
leaving black holes that cannot be filled except with memory

Addictive drugs or alcohol are literal -
soulless and mindless, embodied only 
with ingestion, injection or breathed deep into tender lungs
Innocent powders and liquids when sitting alone
Powerful chemical torches when flooding the brain.

A day full of housework and homework,
bills, phone calls, emails and broken toys or tools
is a day full of living abundance and gratitude 
for the safety of my own family.

“Imagine trying to live without air.

Now imagine something worse.”

~ Amy Reed, Clean

Alterations

When preparations go awry
moods go along as well
hands thrown up in the air
suddenly the goal shifts ~ 
no ~ changes all together!
a new basket woven
another set of tools pulled out
and all the while
doing laundry...readying meals...snacking
mind mulling and puttering
really are a fine pair
when preparations go awry.

“The best plans of men and mice often go awry.”

~ Robert Burns

Duality ~ Focus Blurs

Preparation for any journey brings out many things,
the most interesting being things of a dual nature ~
ensuring transportation is well maintained and ready to go
and ensuring that rest stops are planned and then taken.
Food and drink
Daytime driving
Nighttime stopping
My present journey is writing 
about my beliefs, ideas and thoughts
learning the craft of writing
in order to develop what is story, poem, my nursing experience.
From that has come duality ~

The duality of 
YES or NO
when one says STOP 
the other says GO
bright orange edges between these two orbs
saying slow, with attention and care
don’t stop.
Forward movement is still in the cards,
watch for traffic that’s beside and behind.
Proceed cautiously, be prepared
from all that has already been learned.

“In me the tiger sniffs the rose.”

~ Siegfried Sassoon

A Preparatory Muse

Preparations usually mean some kind of gathering
family
ideas
some kind of actions toward a common goal....whether for fun, profit or adventure.
Hopefully not any nefarious deeds (don’t you just love that word! nefarious ~
I’ve never really had a chance to use it.)
But I digress.....
Preparation, my cursory study of it this month, is really quite simple.
Preparation is about living life.
We prepare for everything outside of ourselves
school, our day job, careers, parties, company, travel.......
I could really go on and on and on with a list of life activities.
But what about reading a book, watching a movie, enjoying the sunshine,
feeling the warm rain, hiking, walking or building a snow man.......
and I could go on and on about that!
Am I thinking too much?  
making too much out of something simple just to have something to talk about? 
I suppose that’s possible - definitely possible
And yet it is something to ponder...
all of those leisure things prepare the soil of our hearts for felt experiences...

experiences with those we love or when in our own solitude.

“In the end, it’s not going to matter how many breaths you took,

but how many moments took your breath away.”

~ Shing Xiong