Most of our city streets
are lined with elms,
old and graceful, while wind scatters their golden leaves
But this is a prairie town
where trees need to be planted.
this flower
bloomed colourful relief
as cars, trucks, buses, service vans rushed by, stirring days end dust, road noise ignored
by these cheery little flowers.
“Flowers are for our souls to enjoy.”
~ Sioux proverb
Just around the corner
there is always something
that wasn’t there yesterday.
Maybe just a black shiny pebble
tossed from a child’s hand,
maybe a new fence erected
maybe tiny weeds growing,
flowering amid drying grasses.
Noticing these tiny changes
in a world gone mad
shows me that
the black shiny pebble,
the new fence,
the tiny flowering weeds
know nothing of the state of our planet.
They have no ears to hear the chaos,
nor eyes to watch out for a new face in the news.
But they are always just around the corner.
“There is one thing which gives radiance to everything.
It is the idea of something around the corner,”
Gilbert K. Chesterton, writer
(1874 ~ 1936)
This yellow tulip tries to outshine
robins, sparrows and finches
each year from the same bed
where west sun warms the wall.
Never mulched against winter
unless with autumn leaves
or dried grasses, the little bulb
rests through the long winter
reappears when the warmth returns.
“Wherever life plants you, bloom with grace.”
~ French Proverb
Do you have sunflowers
in the palm of your hand?
That sounds a bit amiss,
but in my hand they are field
of tiny sunflowers with a sky
as blue as blue can be with
radiant sun above, white puffs of clouds to ride the breeze.
In this handful of nature is
the life that sunflowers offer
to the bees to the birds,
surrounded by a frill of petals,
as bright as the sun.
So if you have sunflowers
in the palm of your hand, life will
be yours to share with me and thee.
“We’re all golden sunflowers inside.”
~ Allen Ginsberg
We are all ready to flower
with our life’s purpose
But sometimes
when you least expect it
a young man, smiling,
bearded and in bulky, work clothes,
coming from his lunch break,
held open the restaurant door
for two friends as they chattered away.
Life happens in the moment.
What is our life’s purpose?
What is your life’s purpose?
“Live your purpose and make your soul smile.”
~ Frank Sonnenberg, The Path to a Meaningful Life
Poetry stills me
When my mind is
busy with daytime things
Poetry fills me
When my mind is
vacant at days end
Poetry hears me
When I write
words with meaning
Poetry moves me,
When I want to progress
with rhythm
Poetry touches me
When I want to
feel beauty
Poetry sees me
As a raindrop
sees a flower.
“Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.”
~ Carl Sandburg
 |
| Victoria, March 30, 2019 |
opened to brilliant sunshine
merely because it was time.
“The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers,
but for the wide world’s joy.”
~ Henry Ward Beecher
Epilepsy ~ a chronic brain condition, not the purple bruise on a face, but a purple flower in bloom
taking life by the hand between seizures
unwelcome sounds
~ rude or annoying,
un-choreographed movements:
~ convulsions that steal consciousness
~ momentary lapses that no one notices as odd
or behaviours that defy logic.
any or all and maybe more ~
when convulsions of any magnitude
defy medication, surgery and care,
the grip on living can become tenuous,
quality of life wilts
sometimes lost ~
lives given to others to manage
In the space between seizures
Family participation is challenged and will adapt
Education is challenged but goes on
Employment is challenged but continues
Community activity is challenged but develops
Health and happiness can be a daily challenge.
Epilepsy ~ a chronic brain condition
not the purple bruise on a face
but a purple flower in bloom.
“It appears to me to be no more divine nor more sacred than
other diseases, but has a natural cause….like other affections.”
~ Hippocrates,
On the Sacred Disease (written 2400 years ago)
Author’s note:
Epilepsy is no longer considered a brain disease, but is a brain condition. There are multiple causes, including stroke, brain trauma, any neurological brain damage and one form termed Idiopathic, meaning no known cause. Presently treatments are wide ranging - many different medications used depending on the individual, brain surgery if it is deemed appropriate, life style changes: any or all of them.
Beneath the blooms
tangled vines grow
sprouted from the soil
Community is like that
rooted in the histories
of residents new and old
With each new resident,
another flower can grow
in the garden that is community.
“Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us. Life is so endlessly delicious.”
~ Ruth Reichl, author
no time for self-doubt, but oft
a ready predator to defeat me.
or self-sabotage?
or maybe procrastination?
yet my ideas still flower
despite the shade of self-doubt.
“Aerodynamically the bumblebee shouldn’t be able to fly,
but the bumblebee doesn’t know that so it goes on flying anyway.”
~ Mary Kay Ash
“Wherever you go, no matter what the weather,
always bring your own sunshine.”
~ Anthony J. D’Angelo, author
