The cat looks quizzical at the orchid on the table
I can offer understanding
The orchid, beautiful and frail
What does the cat think?
Simple or capricious question
One can devote a lifetime to answer
Observe what’s happening in one’s environment
Symmetry and differences can bring,
Even to an ordinary mind, an insight
Or become attached to one interpretation
Unnecessarily and slow the progress
Even a disagreement can be a cooperation
One glance can open an ocean.
Moments move our emotions, our life
How can I move like time
I am a humble hummingbird
Hovering over flowers until I am out breath
There is wisdom in the stones I will not know
Or a camaraderie with bees I will not experience
Where can I go my friend to touch the warmth of time
Perhaps I can find a child who will want a lullaby
My wings can sing her a song.
I have to learn about cricket
A refrain I have to learn one day
The English game popular in many countries
Unlike planting and harvesting aubergine
And what one can accomplish with dyes is phenomenal
The colors are so vivid
Very easy to understand and compose
That’s how the process of learning got started
I have now a beginner’s knowledge
An individuality and growth
I am more sensible, like learning
How to use the proper condiments in cooking
Knowledge comes in circles and one can chain them
Not exactly a necklace but can be a bracelet
Very appropriate to wear.
To amuse myself sometimes I create new words and definitions
That’s not allowed in cricket.
Somewhere an owl is sleeping
In a tree in a nearby mountain.
I can’t explain everything
Though may not thrill everyone
But nestled between them is the word, wonderful.
“Joy like a river in her soul”, words of a young boy
Sharing his mother’s state of being.
A town nestled next to a river
How does one tear down and build anew?
River dredging begins Flood Control Master Plan.
Town awakens, sounds of bulldozers and cranes,
People wearing helmets working
Design to demolish, preserve, develop, convert
Empty complexes, aging structures, dormant land
Long deliberations in what the town needs:
Hotels, shops, restaurants, or something abstract
Community park in summer turns flood diversion space in winter.
Building a promenade on riverfront,
Passageway along railroad tracks,
Connecting Vine Trail, continuity without impediments
Collaboration with artists and role of the arts,
A time for coffee and twisted cinnamon rolls.
One accent, the Passages, a segment of passageway
Once a haven for graffiti’s passion and restlessness
Now a channel for artistic expressions,
Vivid, vibrant, living project
Come, look, linger, get involve.
Walking home I hum a Dave Brubeck’s tune
I prepare smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwich,
A bowl of peach yogurt and blackberries for lunch.
I take my time. I do not eat with haste.
Like town dreamers, like my friends
I, too, have choices and concerns
Should I join the frenzy of high technology
Pulsing reminders of “constantly possible productive moments”
Or walk with artists and pilgrims in shared humanity
Learn value of life, bear the task, persevere?
In my solitary walk, my mind can’t remain still
How will the young boy paint the river?
Let image follow imagination like spells of delight
Art’s idea whispers, shouts, bends then leaps to clarity
A journey of praise of what one truly loves.
In art and life, one will leave one day, the other stays.
I will write my praise.
Hide in a shelter of trees in the woods and listen to avian conversations, sweet songs and chatter
Serenades in chants of love songs, birds flirting, time phrases
Simultaneous displays of affection
When evening comes, lie down on the meadow to ease you muscle aches and back discomfort
Watch the stars appear ten by ten until you can’t count them anymore
Your brain nudges the hammock of neural synapses connecting lifelines of attention and comfort
The fragrance of grass, beauty of flower garlands open your senses to a new chemistry
The body is intelligent in an unknown way and know what to subtract and add in wholesome well being before you yourself knows what’s happening.
Open space embrace with soothing air and mountain views like a sanctuary as if nature is speaking to you. And understand emotionally what the birds are singing. The secret is not what you imagine but what you feel.
You know you will need tremendous courage to follow your own rules.
Some songs and calls are fading
The birds are facing extinction
Encroachment in their habitats or human neglect
The birds chant offers a sense of place and time and peace
We are losing the outdoors richness when our winged friends leave or die.
Don’t abandon the birds, they are helpless pretty creatures and friends
If you don’t answer your questions you have to find one who can. Don’t presume you are the first one to ask.
Though I will miss my lunch
I am not hungry to eat yet
I am exuberantly eager to walk to the river
I don’t want to confess I want to see her again
A woman who walks with a yellow parasol
I do not feel embarrassed I do not speak her language
I feel sad for not learning the language when I was young.
Today is a different day
Everyone wishes “a somewhere to be”
The day when the lockdown begins
The day that nobody wants.
I want focus my attention to the pathway
Lined by sycamore, birch, maple and other trees I can not name
I am still astonished by soft touches of leaves falling on my head
And hearing crackling sound of leaves that I walk on
A day of circumstances
One blue heron and 4 egrets gathered on the riverbank
All looking at the river
Two sea otters playing diverts also my attention
Their heads bobbing up and under the water surface
I change my attention to the birds
They also sense my new interest
I experience the birds play of teasing
Two egrets fly away chasing each other.
Then comes a paddle boarder in the river
He bends down pulling back his paddle
Propelling himself down the river
Stands up, bends and paddles on the left
Propels himself forward again
Downstream he will turn around before he is swallowed by the sea
Paddles back to where he starts his day
Robust and happy for his accomplishment
The day may not be of bewilderment
But it is a day of sun but without rain
I’m happy to take photographs and write a poem
About how we live in a worried world
A reality we can change with our untapped power.
note: The book I just finished reading: Dirt by William Buford. Entertaining, funny, French way of cooking. Wonderful.
Have you seen a cat weeping?
Or a thirsty squirrel?
A pause, practice deep involvement
From a splendid height
A kestrel watches
Graceful speed, finesse.
Lots of letters to answer
Diminish the clutter
Walk softly on the circled path
You live, find meaning
Practice virtues
Not incomprehensible
Even if you live in Istanbul or Damascus
Or in time of pandemic
Each day can be of gratitude.
Art does not explain
You experience beauty or riddle
Or something significant.
edgarone2