every day

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Stone & Flesh

Do you ever look down
at your naked body
and wonder what
sort of animal it is?

Do you ever hesitate
before saying something
and wonder what
good it will even do?

Do you ever gaze
at a single blade of grass
and wonder why
it dances all alone?

I pray, God, boldness:
I shelter myself in
a citadel of apathy.
May I learn

to go to the limits
of every longing--
to know what
I really want

and to utter it
not loudly, but
a little eloquence
might help. So

meekly
I open my fists
and show you:
a few small stones

pieces of a
tongue-tied soul.
Someday I will
be prolific.

Do you ever imagine
lilies in your lungs
and wonder how
it would feel to breathe?

[photograph of me by the lovely heather on one of our recent excursions]
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ten good things

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It's been awhile since I've done this. But it is good to remember the simple & beautiful things of life.

01. seventy degree weather and sunshine
02. freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
03. my favorite teacup from home
04. the noise and chatter of the gryphon at eight in the morning
05. getting up early and feeling productive
06. celebrating the mumsy and all her wonderfulness
07. sitting on roots in my favorite alcove by the lake
08. rediscovering andrew bird
09. filling pages of journals at a time
10. hope even now

And gosh and golly. Summer, please come around soon, won't you? I miss the sound of the crickets and the shoes left behind by the side of the lake.

[picture from last summer's adventures with this girl]
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drink in the life

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A much needed break from school is here and this morning I am back at the Gryphon, bathed in sunshine and drinking chai. Until last week, I had completely different plans for break, but I am grateful to be here with notebook and time and air. Also spent some time with the family in Washington over the weekend. Goodness all around.

And this poem. Oh this poem. How does Rilke know it so well?

"You see, I want a lot.

Maybe I want it all:

the darkness of each endless fall,

the shimmering light of each ascent.

So many are alive who don't seem to care.

Casual, easy, they move in the world

as though untouched.

But you take pleasure in the faces

of those who know they thirst.

You cherish those

who grip you for survival.

You are not dead yet, it's not too late

to open your depths by plunging into them

and drink in the life

that reveals itself quietly there."

[R.M. Rilke, Love Poems to God]

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