1.3.26 Well Hello Again

 You have to admit

It’s pretty interesting

How life comes around the bend sometimes

And smacks into you

And you turn

And you recognize

And you smile

And your heart becomes full

Your heart becomes full of

All these living beings

So many kinds of organisms

And you are one of them

And years ago

Perhaps you woke up in the morning

And went to bed at night

And scrambled around

When you fell off the path

Lying there in the ditch

Legs struggling

Wondering if you would be able to

Get up again

And then you did Get up, didn’t

And you learned to

Just let the love for yourself

Slide deep inside of you

Despite your being

Perfectly imperfect

And sometimes you turn the corner

And you bumped into things that you made

Long Ago

And you get to know each other again

You get to know yourself again

You get to peer out into the fog and distance

Where others reside

And just feel the grace of all

Life changing

Times shifting

Growing older

Watching the garden of your life

Ebb And flow

Watching the evidence of how you

Inexplicably repair and come back to life

Who knew

I don’t know about you

I find life to be phenomenally difficult and confusing

Magnificent heart rending

Just like this day we have been given right now

Over here,

In this small life

Eight years later

There is a little cottage

In a little village

Filled with friendly people

Who want the best for everyone

And lots of them have dogs

And no matter the weather

They go walking around and round the little streets

Of the little town

And often enough, there are Sunday branches

Poetry readings

Evening black-eyed peas, meals by the outdoor fire

An email thread where they

Ask for rides

And offer up unwanted things

And complain about stuff

Older than before

I happily live in my little cottage

I have freedom now

I have peace and grace

There was a shit show of weird stuff

In my life before

But it’s gone now

I continually repair

Like the rest of us

I went to trap and neuter black kittens

Behind a friends house

They were Emaciated

I brought them into my home where they have stayed

Wild, beautiful, black cats

I have five other cats with enormous

Cat towers and cat patios, and

A separate place where the dogs can’t go

My beautiful Dante is dead and gone

And Ember Is here, 2, 

And Taschen (5 mo)

I see my clients in my practice again

I walk dogs

I think about Yevtushenko Often

He sat quietly

And cracked nuts

Growing older

Crafting beauty

Considering livelihood

Dancing with the cosmos

Being and becoming

All good things

In the midst of crazy awful nation

Driven by 48.9% of the population of my country

Brutalizing the world and our own people

Still, we make beauty

Still, we do what we can 

for the good of all

Welcome back

We are all here