Category Archives: Life

Jan4

words on a page.

Posted on January 4, 2024 by beth

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ten years ago

this surprise postcard

appeared in my mailbox

from a former student

now far away

addressed to peaches

my affectionate nickname

sent to me

when she was seven not yet eight

her only message

a beautiful poem

summed up

life

in three lines

love is love

life is life

there is nothing else to it.

i knew way back when

she was just four not yet five

learning

how to hold a pencil to write

she was a beat poet and roller derby queen of adventure.

—

“one should write because one loves the shape of stories and sentences

and the creation of different words on a page.”

-annie proulx

Jan3

nondescript.

Posted on January 3, 2024 by beth

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my favorite shirt

lived in

worn to softness

tissue paper thin

color gone

shapeless and frayed

always feels like home.

—

“there is a special blessing in old clothes;

that aside from their comfort,

for which especially they are to be cherished.

they confer a certain kind of anonymity on one who wears them gladly;

all their bright places rubbed in a uniform dullness,

they achieve an appearance so nearly nondescript

that only a close scrutiny could learn that ever they held shape at all.’

-maude meagher

Dec31

but now what?

Posted on December 31, 2023 by beth

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good riddance, but now what?

come, children, gather round my knee;
something is about to be.
tonight’s december thirty-first,
something is about to burst.
the clock is crouching, dark and small,
like a time bomb in the hall.
hark! it’s midnight, children dear.
duck! here comes another year.

-ogden nash.

—

art credit: ed gorey, the house

Dec30

cast aside.

Posted on December 30, 2023 by beth

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(not our real hands, but good for perspective)

mine is the tinkerbelle hand with a minor ‘injury’ and his, the paul bunyan hand with a major trauma.

waiting in the store checkout line

browsing through my phone

the man in front of me

laughing and chatting with the cashier

saying it was a challenge to sign the receipt

because of his hand

hearing this

turned to face him

beginning to take in the situation

(major cast on his arm and hand)

while i quickly blurted out:

“it’s the worst, isn’t it?!”

whining about having an injury too

he asked me what happened

explaining the battle with my car door

he had a young daughter with him

was so kind and gentle with her

laughing and chatting

just as he had done with the cashier

when i asked him what happened

wondering why he had such a big cast

he told me his story

it involved him trying to stop someone

from stealing his fiancee’s car

and

a dog attack

instant perspective shift

before i could say anything

he turned to go

saying,

“i’m sorry that happened to you and i hope you heal really soon.”

all i could say was, “you too..”

how fortunate the people in his life are

even the strangers he encounters in his day

lucky to cross paths with him

this gentle giant

walks softly

teaching huge lessons.

—

“look at you comforting others with the words you want to hear.”

-author unknown

Dec29

hope is a decision.

Posted on December 29, 2023 by beth

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hope tree, karin zeller

———

buddhist philosopher daisaku ikeda wrote this insightful look at the nature of happiness in his essay collection, “Hope Is a Decision.” ikeda spent 50 years writing the essays in the book. they all relate in some form to the nature of hope, and how we can take it upon ourselves to maintain it, even during tumultuous times. consider it a self-fulfilling prophecy: if you choose to be hopeful, you will be. just like if you choose to try and make others happy, it will increase your own happiness. and, as ikeda also notes in his essay, those choices will “illuminate our final years with dignity.”