Sharpening

My last 48 hours have gone from meditative silence, to an all-night relay for cancer awareness, to three hours on the phone with Apple tech support, to the hand sharpening of 24 pencils.

Today is Jeb’s first day of second grade.  He’s transitioning from a small, independent school to our town’s six-acre public elementary school.  I’ve got the jitters and must appear casual, yet supportive.  Positive, but not overly enthusiastic.

I have prepared lunch in advance.  His backpack is loaded with school supplies, including the requested “24 #2 pencils, sharpened.”

We’re out the door in 45 minutes.

courtesy of Dvortygirl

Seeking the Subtle Thread

It’s one of those kind of days.  3am and a To Do list.

Yesterday I was liquid, alive in exotic locales.  Swirling in music:  Bon Iver, Gillian Welch, Scott Matthews.

This morning, there are no artful photographic images.  No graceful alliterations to spout forth.

Just a sharpened pencil outlining a list.  PDFs of school calendars.  Bank statements and a calculator.

I tell myself there is an art to this.  This practical living we all dance through.  That there must be some merit in writing about the most mundane.  Some inspiration in the quest to find the magic.

The seeking of some satiating thread (so subtle), in even this most parched scape.

Aloe Vera and the Ganges

I spend the early dark of morning
in headphones
Eddie Vedder singing Cat Stevens
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings

writing poetry

Himalayan waterfalls and desire
too close to disclose
I swirl in sunrise and feeling
in my writing hour
I am alive

when motherhood calls

Jeb’s sunburn throbbing
his small red shoulders pull me
from foreign lands and eddies
back to thick aloe goo
soothing skin with words
blowing cool upon his back
easing tears

this morning
I am seeping liquid
spread out all over this world

courtesy of rob's lensonlife