Tag: Poetry
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noted.
Noted The sounds of the chickens next door remind me of a morning I woke up in Africa. There are chickens all over the world, of course, but the gentle clucks of the ones in Ilmamen, Kenya all those years ago are the ones I listened and paid attention to, soaking in every sensory detail…
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free play
Free PlayWhat would you do if you weren’t afraid? Those dear protectorsonly want to keep us safebut sometimes, they hem us in, behind and before, so our little world shrinkssmaller and smallerand we can’t see a way out anymore. Many times, what they want most in the world is to be heard, seen, acknowledged, validated.…
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spill
If you took off the lidthat was sealed so tightly,I wonder what would spill out?Would the contents burst forthlike a geyser shooting up,or would something tightly coiledfinally have the room to spring,air filling the long-compressed spacesso that at last it could take upall the space it was designed to occupy?Or would it be a slow…
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lament
3 shootingsin 6 days,and these are just the ones that have made the news.May God have mercy on our souls-God knows, there’s no mercy to be had from the gun owners.#PaytonWashington#KaylinGillis#RalphYarl
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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…