Category: Poetry
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parenting is:
Parenting is carrying on with a beautiful daysplashing about in the creekafter a morning of child temper tantrumsand impatient imperfect grown ups simultaneously wondering when this season will endknowing this season will endhoping and grievingthat this season will end.~Lindsay L. O’Connor
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before you go
before you go Stay with yourselfStay with this momentStay with this holy unfoldingStay with this goodness.When your wise body tells you “This is good,”Stay. When your chest is wide open,expanding the width of the whole world,so entwined with creationthat the very breeze feels likethe breath expanding your lungs—Stay.Linger on this holy ground. When you glimpse…
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wind chimes
Wind ChimesThere’s a place where the sidewalkleading up to our houseslopes in a gentle curvedown to the street.On not-too-hot sunny days,I am drawn to sit here and feel the breeze lift the ends of my hairas I get lost in the soundof the wind chimeshanging over the porch.They betray a physical manifestationof the wind—that mysterious…
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words that come from silence
words that come from silenceby Lindsay L. O’ConnorI want words that come from silence,like when the world began.Words born in noise have their place, to be sure,but there is so much noisefrom reacting without much thought,without checking in firstwith the body, heart, and mind,to see how the message might be refinedin the furnace of our…
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a most beautiful thing
Today I saw the most beautiful thing.I walked back to the creekwhere I had seen the turtles and ducksjust the other day—the turtles and ducks that saved usat the beginning of the pandemic,when the whole worldturned upside down.I stood on the bridge,peering over the railing.No turtles.No ducks.Perhaps it has gotten too cold,I thought,which sent my…
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for the women
for the womenby Lindsay L. O’Connor A social media post that went viralasked women what they would doif there were no men on the planetfor 24 hours.The answers would make you weep…“Go on walks at night.”“Dance around town at 3am without fearing for my life.”“Wear whatever I want.”“Leave my drink unattended at a bar.”“Get a…
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nighttime rose: resurrection musings
I wrote this in honor of my daughter’s birthday about a month ago:nighttime rose:resurrection musings My daughter—my first child—my once-presumed-lifeless but miraculouslyresurrected-while-still-within-me child—the one who turned the tomb of my womb into a cradle that rocked her gently and protected her from every harsh thingwhile she formed intothe baby I met months later—I have witnessed…
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to Sabbath like a lizard
To Sabbath Like a LizardI didn’t read my Bible today.I sprawled out on our aging deckand kicked off my shoes.The skin of my bellyinadvertently made contactwith the sun-warmed wood underneath.I can see why lizards do this, I thought.I heard the leaves rustle overheadas the breeze swept through my haira dog barkeda bird warbledI became aware…
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the inconvenience of our sadness
The Inconvenience of Our Sadness Do you ever feel so tired, you just weep and weep and weep? Weeping sounds so beautiful, like a willow— elegant sadness stretching out perpetually, showing off her delicate leaves draped on bending branches. My sadness never feels that lovely. It feels ugly, self-indulgent, and inconvenient— an obstacle to all…
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when you begin to feel again
When life is overwhelming, our wise bodies sometimes take an overdue break and our obedient hearts and minds follow suit. Maybe it feels like fatigue or illness or depression or apathy. Everything just shuts down. It all felt like too much, and it was. You were never meant to carry so much alone. And then,…
Lindsay L. O'Connor 