To Welcome Them
Make room at your table
Set an extra plate.
Open the circle to
Welcome a new guest
Empty coat hooks by your door.
Sweep your entry with clear intention
To welcome them.
To welcome them
It takes courage
To greet in mid stream
As you prepare
Is there room for another
To happen by
An ancestor.
A thought.
New poem.
A song.
An unknown friend.
Is there room for new
Breath, new seeds
Recipe, a moment
Unplanned. What are
The words of welcome.
What will this cleared space allow?
_________________________
To Be of Use
Listen
There is a message
Within the words
Within the folds
Looking for a way to be of use?
This is a different time.
A time to shed stories
That don’t fit us anymore
Like that old, soft rag of a shirt
Comfort that is so
Hard to throw away
What would that space allow to come in?
Listen-
The wind rustles
Strands of hair fly to
uncover your ears
Listen
What is the quietest thing you hear?
A clear sound- beckoning
You into this moment
Lift out of a story- held
From long ago
Listen
Step into this moment
Listen
Awaken a song sweetly
Waiting for you to listen
As the song weaves us
_________________________
Words
… don’t ask permission, ask for forgiveness…
I look at these words, put together this way
and wonder if this is why we are in the current
state of climate emergency.
A simple turn of the words
could possibly lend a different
Perspective…
ask permission, forgiveness lies within
_________________________
What is a Boy Without Imagination to Fly?
Red with silver lines. Tires wide and ready
For speed. The day clings to a heat- unbearable.
He walks.
The bike glimmers in the afternoon sun- setting low
On the horizon.
His thoughts- heavy with the sorrow he felt
From his Mother’s embrace.
Something catches his imagination- a silver
Glimmer within a pile of abandoned treasures.
He walks to the bicycle- pulls it out.
He straddles the frame and begins to ride
His shirt- unbuttoned- flies behind him
White light like wings.
Angel wings of his grandfather’s presence-
An invitation to play in the face of fear.
He- for a moment- Flies
He- for a moment- is a boy free from
Burdens too big for his growing shoulders.
He- for a moment- knows what it is
To be a boy that imagines flight.
____
This poem was inspired by a line in The World Has Need of You by Ellen Bass
“…A boy on a bicycle rides by,
His white shirt open, flaring
Behind him like wings…
