A Balancing Game

What do I write about tonight?

Something short, intelligent and brimming with wisdom 

~ or not. 

While my head 

senses my balance, 

I sense my discomfort, 

my lack of balance. 

Where does it come from ?

The inner ear, 

some kind of brain function 

 ~ both in agreement?

Or maybe something unknown?

Regardless, balance was restored 

by a good chat with a friend this afternoon 

and an evening out with other women 

to discuss matters of entertainment and food 

while watching others win door prizes.

“If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, 

then you’ve got a problem. Everything else is inconvenience.”

~ Robert Fulghum,

(Author of All I Really need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten)

Out on a Limb

Out on a limb 

I swing and sway 

whether wind is

north or south, 

east or west.

I learn to balance, 

or just hang on 

with faith that 

my strength will 

keep me safe.

When retirement comes, 

and wild winds change, 

I’m given a choice ~

to stay out on the limb,

or choose another tree.

“A human being is a deciding being.”

~ Viktor E. Frankl, M.D.

(1905 - 1997)

One Blade of Grass

From morning til night, 

without thought, 

I accept the small things.

Should I disagree with how 

long it takes the kettle to boil, 

I grumble and walk away ~ 

find something else to do while 

I wait for seconds to pass.

With grander issues like

homelessness, the price of gas

or the state of the world 

I may turn my back or 

be tormented by anger 

and frustration. I may walk away, 

or I may find the one thing 

within circles where I am

to make this life better 

while the kettle boils.

“If you restore balance in your own self, you will be 

contributing immensely to the healing of the world.”

~ Deepak Chopra

Shifting

shifting sands 

moving foot to foot

for balance’s sake

shifting winds 

sudden or slow emotions 

dates on the calendar 

shifting tides 

undercurrents 

no warning 

shifting perspectives

a subtle re-order

for strength in a moment.

“The map of what we call reality is an every-shifting mosaic of ideas.”

~ Marcelo Gleiser, physicist

Child's Play

Never more grateful than 

when I know that 

balance is flexible. 

I watch children running up and down a teeter totter, 

laughing and revelling 

in the joy of their balance. 

Never standing still 

in the centre of the game. 

We can try 

to stay rigidly balanced, 

but when life tips up or down, 

we may be headed for a big fall

unless we take our balance with us.

“Balance is not something you find, 

it’s something you create.”

~ Jana Kingsford, entepreneur

Baby Steps

Continuation of a walk 

through life seems obvious. 

After all each child is 

born to do just that. 

How we teach our children 

to walk is important. 

And when we have grown 

past our adolescent years and try 

to balance our tentative adult steps, 

we will want to fly like the geese in the fall, 

or race like a thoroughbred to ‘get there’ 

with spirits indestructible and brave.

And so we are and can continue to be throughout 

our lives no matter the heaving and buckling of the road

as long as we remember the baby steps of our youth.

“Perhaps it was not a destination I sought but merely a continuation.”

~ Ocean Vuong,  On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

Paper Thin Balance

 

inner strength is merely hidden, 

sleeping with feet up, 

while the busyness of the day 

rides rough shod over 

your mind and spirit; 

your body merely dragging 

its way through each moment 

barely making it to the time of night 

when it too can sleep.

How can one not be grateful 

for this amazing balancing act?

“Without balance, a life is no longer worth the effort.”

~ Olen Steinhauer,  The Tourist

Inspired by: A Cure is Needed for the Present, Sometimes by Fiona Bolger

Little to Do

Revelstoke, B.C. August 2017

Reasoning has little to do 

with pizza, cheese bubbling 

beneath the rounds of pepperoni. 

It was my supper tonight, 

crisp and delicious from my oven. 

Reasoning had little to do 

with the foaming soap suds 

that filled my washing machine 

while the spin and turn of the drum 

did its job for clean sheets tonight.

Reasoning, not rhetoric, takes me 

into my own thoughts, my own ideas. 

Thoughts of kindness and honesty.

Ideas born and grown from the myriad 

of lessons from my growing up and living.

Reasoning has little to do 

with friends that give us a lift 

with laughter and visiting about 

hairbands or the colour of the sky 

at sunset before stars sparkle above.

Reasoning has little to do 

with the noise of the world. 

Balance between our homes and 

the noise of the world can show us

the reasons to be at peace with it all.

“I don’t have to understand the reasons for 

the colours of a rainbow to appreciate it beauty.”

~ Wayne Gerard Trotman, 

Author of children’s literature, multi-genre