Come Along

Inviting happiness along

does not require

idyllic circumstance

Inviting happiness along

does require willingness 

to come as you are.

Happiness is not something ready made. 

It comes from your own actions.”

~ Dalai Lama XIV

The Laughter of Rain

Laughing into each day is not always how my mornings start

Today thick generous clouds 

sit heavy on my head until

I watch grass and trees, 

thirsting for tiny tastes of moisture, 

welcome a steady misting rain 

dropping delicately on 

flower and leaf buds 

carefully laughing into spring.

“Last night 

the rain

spoke to me

 slowly, saying,

what joy

to come falling…”

~ Mary Oliver, What Do We Know

At the Bus Stop ~ Threatened

Alert, aware, awake, air moist and cool, rain rolled slowly towards the city. The wooden bench was warm from brief sunshine. The power of vehicles minuscule against the power of the thick, bunched up clouds. No grand announcement of thunder and lightning, merely their presence and the smell of cool rain. 

“Clouds add character to the heavens.”

~ Dahi Tamara Koch, Within the event horizon: poetry & prose

Love it! ~ ALIVE ~ Theme for May 2024

Alert, aware, awake……..

Laughing into each day….

Inviting happiness along….

Vastly bigger than…..

Entering the flow….

“There was a shyness to the sky and a nowness to the world 

that he had never seen or felt or realized before.”

~ Neil Gaiman, Stardust

Unending

There is no end to reality

when the snow falls 

the sun shines

  the wind blows.

Reality greets us each morning ~ while we sleep it holds our space

To hear thunder crack

  To see a child’s face

    To feel currents of emotion

      To sense the delicacy of touch

There is no end to reality

when the rain falls 

the sun sets

  the clouds drift.

“It is one of those stories that you just want to keep going and going

 ~ even after the last page has been reached.”

~ Vicki M. Taylor, Forever Until We Meet

Standing on End!

 Screen time

Taxes

You get it!!

“All things built with tax money are beautiful: 

so we must think or go mad.”

~ Catherynne M. Valente, In the Night Garden

A Birthday Party!

Surrounded by family, 

with bright balloons and party dresses,

clothes, books and toys popped out of gifts; tacos, cupcakes and a piñata

spins a child’s head in circles.

Happy Birthday, Tatum!

“Today you are you! That is truer than true! 

There is no one alive who is you-er than you!”

~ Dr. Seuss

Timing ~ 6

Victoria, March 30, 2019

Magnolia blossoms 

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

On an Afternoon Walk - Bearded

A delicacy that gives a lie 

to the shade that is to come.

“True delicacy is not a fragile thing.”

~ James Broughton, poet

(1913 - 1999)

Imaginings

Her husband Ralph would think she was foolish. To stop in the midst of their run to look longingly at the house they would never have. Out of breath, he wiped his face and neck with the already saturated cloth he carried with him. “We’re going to take a different route, Nancy. You know that looking at that house isn’t going to help, honey.” He did feel sorry that he couldn’t buy her the house. It was old anyway and probably needed a lot of work. “But Ralph, just look at that bay window. Is it a beautiful dining room, with oak furniture, or a quiet sitting room. Can’t you just imagine the parties we could have; or the books I could read by that window? And when the vines are full and green, and in the fall beautiful red……..” Her voice drifted off on the breeze. “Come on, honey. Let’s keep on. Your mom and dad will be here and trying to find us.” Putting his arm around her, they started walking and in a few steps continued their jog home to their tiny apartment. 

“You go on up, I’ve got a call. Be up in a minute.” Nancy’s parents were at the door of the apartment house. “Mom! Dad! No hugs yet. I’m all sweaty. Come…….Ralph will be up in a minute.”

Her husband didn’t have an incoming call. He felt badly about his little white lie. “I don’t know how I’ll do this, I can’t see her crying any more.” He punched in the Real Estate number and set up a meeting. He didn’t want to say anything until he was sure. So much to consider. He’d need to talk with the bank and hope for the best. 

“Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality.”

~ Jules de Gaultier, philosopher

(1858 ~ 1942)

On the Bus ~ Cascades

languages strange to my ear

in laughter and conversation

the music of many voices

riding the bus.

“The limits of my language means the limits of my world.”

~ Ludwig Wittgenstein, philosopher

(1889 - 1951)

At Day's End

Strength flows and ripples 

over flat or jagged rocks,

rests and pools 

in clear water 

at days end.

“Those who flow as life flows know they need no other force.”

~ Lao Tzu

After the Rain

Photo from 2023 in the city

Thru' windows tall and wide,

I saw the clouds today,

bulky even after the rain,

muscling their way 

over the prairie, 

allowing the sun to shine 

as shades of gray passed.

“The sky is postcard dreamy now, the clouds less full of rain, 

the sun a little stronger every day.”

~ Kathleen Glasgow, Girl in Pieces

Author's note: Poetry today inspired by clouds outside Memento Cafe at University of Regina.

On an Afternoon Walk ~ In Song

Winter or summer, fall or spring, this Song Tree tells me what season is upon us. In winter it grows a long white beard, in summer’s shade it is home for all manner of life, in the fall the wind cleans debris from its branches and hollows. Today it seemed to lean farther back on its old dry trunk to sing to the avenue of the leaf green tips ready to burst all around.

“There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, 

but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it.”

~ Minnie Aumônier, (1865 - 1952)

*artist, costume designer, poet and writer

*from <thedailygardener.org>

At Sunset ~ 2

 

At sunset

the ocean calms

as world turns

“Sunsets are loved because they vanish.”

~ Ray Bradbury

A Noticeable Life

Let us notice the world 

around us ~ the world of tables and sidewalks holding our daily lives and a path for our feet. 

Let us notice ~

birdhouses in a tree or a cloud that looks like a butterfly. 

To notice these mundane things is seeing the world as we each see it. 

To notice the stretch of our muscles, 

the feeling of ironed clothes against our skin 

to notice these feelings that are not spoken of 

tells us that we are alive and willing to care for ourselves.

To notice the red flesh of a grapefruit bursting with juice 

reaching our tastebuds before the juice dribbles down our chins. 

Let us notice when the tea has grown cold 

but is still delicious. 

Let us notice the slant of light that 

changes with the seasons from bright to dark to bright,

slowly changing shadow shapes on walls and spring puddles, 

the hint of green as buds make shy with the sun. 

Let us notice the little wiggle that eases discomfort

while we settle into a chair that is kind to body and soul. 

Let us notice all these things and more 

in a daily turn of a moment

know we are alive.

“Above all, I wish to see.”

~ Donna Goddard, Circles of Separation

Inspired by writings of Shelley Leedhall: Let Us