Life's Sweetness When We Look


I slid 2 poems into Dear Teachers. Week 22 is the first. (Week 32 is the second, if you’re keeping track.) Overall, my writing style has become more poem-like as I’ve grown older. Shorter and more lean. However, I felt the need for lines here.

Why?

Marlene’s image is very linear. The vertical grass texture is amazing and I found myself relaxing with the rhythm of it. To me, it almost hums in quiet anticipation. While you can’t see its legs, you feel this deer is standing completely still and its legs are as straight up and down as its neck and ears are.

Lines. Timelines. Lines start. Lines stop. This deer has stopped. Let’s stop.

I said before that February’s thoughts would touch on before and after the Now of January. When we stop, we can experience both the moment and what’s hidden. What’s hidden can be what has happened in the past- what’s gotten us here until today.

Which leads to the heart of this poem. It shares a subject with a piece that’s way at the end of the year: life’s sweetness. It’s such an important topic; I had to sprinkle it around this entire book. I actually used the words “sweet”, “sweetness” and “bittersweet” 15 times in Dear Teachers. Let me know if that’s overkill. I thought it was key, but perhaps it was redundant!

Back to this image. In the quiet stillness, what are the sweetnesses of your life? Don’t lose sight of them. If they’ve slipped a bit from your days’ missions, bring them back into your focus.

The short lines of my poem are hidden in the longer lines, like the creatures that hide in the grass. Smaller does not mean less meaningful or important. Your sweetnesses are jewels to be treasured.

Can you see them?


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