I haven’t been writing much, but I’ve been thinking plenty. And I’ve been soaking in poetry. Today I was feeling low for no particular reason, and I took some time outside to sit and think. What would help me recover? I wrote in my journal. Then I read some poetry. Finally, I worked on finishing this poem I had started a few days ago. It made me feel better.

Look!

When everything shines, nothing shines.

We become blind
To ordinary and divine
(Same same you know).

We become deaf.
We can’t hear our kid on the monkey bars shouting Look!
Because everything is shouting Look.

We are the kid on the monkey bars
Seeing everything upside down
And still shouting Look. 

Falling on our heads might not be a bad idea.
It might wake us up 
To silence
To birdsong (the avid little singers)
To the hum of the little drink fridge
In the quiet house
To beauty that doesn’t have to be shared
To be enjoyed.

We might learn how to wait without 
Distraction, dissonance - 
Just wait and think about things and talk to the birds
And then be quiet and feel what happiness in the center is. 

It does not feel the same to everyone
Yet a piece of this happiness is always on offer.
We have to close our mouths to taste it.
We have to open our eyes. 
Then we can see our kid on the monkey bars shine.