Every Day Matters

Every day matters that we dream 

and see reality until patterns emerge 

with gaps, shapes and focus ~ brush strokes hidden in the colours, corners and swirls until we look closely 

to see where the artist has been.

Every day matters are as simple as washing sheets worn and worried with busy, unsettled sleep tossing and turning in awakening lives, tripping through daisies on our way to reality.

Every day matters become real and important

when it is the novels and mysteries that we read, 

the gaudy or dowdy clothes that we wear 

or food that we eat with gusto or just because. 

Every day matters are at least as important 

as grand schemes at the top of the heap of humanity 

that ebbs and flows around us seeking progress

that seems unreachable because of the crowd.

Every day matters are the cogs on our own wheels, 

the gears that we shift to find the right speed 

to take us over rocky or flat terrain, rivers or streams

with or without sustenance, peace and joy.

Every day matters not what we think 

but what we do while our thoughts tell us 

what screw to turn, what ladder to climb, what speed to go

never a thought to what does come first ~ thought or action. 

Every day matters to each of us 

but we may not know what has mattered or 

we may know what matters for us but 

not what matters to the next guy.

“It’s not the extremes and the treats that are the problem. It’s the everyday.”

~ Jamie Oliver

Slow Bursts

Committing to tolerance is 

like taking a deep breath

each morning when joints creak, muscles protest and whine, eyes take a bit longer to focus and waking with energy is alien.

Sleep shaken off, muscles and joints begin to cooperate, a good cup of tea ~ or coffee ~ brings peace to my being ~ then ~ taking the deep breath of tolerance I bring slow bursts of energy to my day.

“Growing old is humbling and it takes effort 

to accomplish this stage of life with dignity.”

~ Kilroy J.Oldster, Dead Toad Scrolls

Restoration ~1

Agreeing with each other is hard. And it should be. I wouldn’t have said that this morning with such finality. Intellectually I knew agreeing with each other should be hard. I have written stories, dialogue, essays and poetry. All of them short. Short because I couldn’t finish them. They were all in an attempt to sugar coat the truth. To make it easier to swallow.  I couldn’t even rely on Mary Poppins' ‘spoonful of sugar’ to make this awful medicine go down. So I’ve had to putter about, read, clean up my kitchen and let all my thoughts go on their own. Finally I had to tell myself the truth - agreeing with each other, all the time, about everything, is impossible - and should be. Disagreement may even involve passionate anger.

 Where had I been stuck? I do not like disagreement or confrontation that leads to argument, ridicule, fighting, name calling and all that goes with those dreadful things. In the last many months there has been so very much of all of those things. Personalities torn asunder. Mud slinging. Lies about the very truths that most of us have learned since childhood. Kindness, tolerance and human decency has been trampled and trashed. It has been too much, too often and too loud. Turning away from the reality of this magnitude is not helpful. I do hope I’m not alone feeling quite powerless to do anything to restore peace and calm to our societies.

“Everything can be restored. If one won’t believe that, 

how does one endure all this?”

~ Chris Cleave, Everyone Brave is Forgiven