I come from the other side…
..the historical shameful side.
Let grief and anger roll out
distilling into
kindness and resolve to be
a living amend to all the
lost children and families.
Do I have a right to say
these things on this day of
Truth and Reconciliation?
Do you?
“I see you. I hear you. And I believe you.”
~ Marie Wilson,
journalist, social justice activist
As autumn settles in
wasps are sluggish
yet still annoying;
fruit flies still hover
and are yet to feel
the cool of autumn,
playgrounds are quieter
as schools absorb our children,
golden leaves drift from elms,
yet to fill the corners and curbs
The air breathes sweater cool.
Calendar dictum remains in summer,
autumn equinox only days away
These cool days prepare the world
for the beauty of real autumn.
“And all at once, summer collapsed into fall.”
~ Oscar Wilde
A crack in the sidewalk,
jagged and out of place
and I asked myself why
it wasn’t neat and orderly.
The answer rose beside
the question: because the
earth moves. But it doesn’t
stop me from stepping over it
or for children to draw with
chalk for a game of hopscotch
A crack in the sidewalk, jagged
and in the place it was given.
“Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.”
~ Dr. Seuss
Cool evening
Sky still aglow
Children playing
in the school yard
Teenagers tossing a
frisbee in a parking lot
Two women walking
their tiny dogs a block away
A small evergreen showing off
little brown cones that will be seed.
Cool evening
Sky still aglow
“Treasure comes in many forms.”
~ S.A.Rodriguez, Treasure Tracks
Come with me and
Listen to a story
Of birds and trees
And bumblebees
Of children dancing
In the rain
And the love of
kittens and of dogs
Of kitchen tables full of food,
Of laughter and of love
And all these things
Go round the world
With different songs
Afnd dress and voice.
We live, we love, we cry
No matter where we live.
“Stories are important, the monster said. They can be
more important than anything. If they carry the truth.”
~ Patrick Ness, A Monster Calls
It was still early evening
the sky clear and blue
a robin landed high in the tree
hopped branch to branch
settling in the centre of the tree.
Trying to hurry and be still
I willed this bird of spring
to sit still while branches waved.
Birds, animals and little children
do not settle in one spot too long
so regardless of fading light
I clicked the button on my phone,
His red breast, hidden in the poor light
only showed off in black and white.
“Color is descriptive. Black and white is interpretive.”
~ Elliot Erwitt, documentary photographer
(1928 ~ 2023)
Naughty and Nice were twins that lived across the road from Cheer and Charm. They were giggly girls with long blond curls. Naughty really liked Charm, and Nice really liked Cheer. The four children got into mischief on the playground, as long as there were no parents around. But if they were caught, Charm and Nice managed the situation - ‘we were just trying to help the poor little boy (or girl) with the toy and she (or he) wanted to share his ice cream with us.’ They didn’t always get away with it, especially if the child in question was crying. Naughty and Cheer loved the excitement of their ‘adventures’. Nice and Charm loved it too, but when the excitement got too scary they convinced the other two to behave themselves. They would be the ones who were always looking for the lost kitten, or baby bird that had fallen from a nest. It was easy to convince the two trouble makers to help them save the foundlings. Nice and Naughty knew that their mom knew all the same stuff about telephone numbers that the other mom knew for lost animals. The five year olds all went home with skinned knees, muddy feet, sunburned faces and any treasures they had found.
“I believe in kindness and also mischief.”
~ Mary Oliver
A good book full of
mystery and enchantment.
Grandchildren and all children
Scrambled eggs - or eggs ..
Colouring:
inside or outside the lines
Taking a challenge just because
Coffee: strong and hot made
from beans from the tropics
Seasons that rotate through
green leaves and flowers to gold to drifts of snow
Trees for beauty, shade and breath.
My big black kitty
that loves me just because
Strength of mind, body and spirit
A blank page, and a pen
A cosy sweater in winter
just for home.
The aroma and taste of fresh bread
The moon, the sun and the stars in the sky
Parents to honour and to love,
warts and all.
A cup of delicious hot chocolate
topped with marshmallows.
“The things that matter don’t necessarily make sense.”
~ Russell Hoban, writer
(1925 ~ 2011)
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
