Maybe the conditions aren’t right

I push my chair back,
get up,
grab a cookie,
pour a glass of water,

I sit back down,
adjust the light,
let my fingers rest lightly on the keyboard,

nothing,
nothing,
nothing,

I turn on some music,
jazz, then pop, then classical,

I sit back down, frown at the computer,
think about walking my dog,
think about dinner,
think about why I can’t think,

if I just sit still,
maybe I’ll grow some shallow roots,
enough to hold me in place ‘til
something beautiful sprouts
from my distracted mind.

+++++++++

It doesn’t take much for a tree to take root,
a scant amount of soil, moisture, sun,
and the process begins,

it might not survive
past the cold days of winter,
but tries valiantly,
even in the worst conditions,
to become a tree.

++++++++++

I sit back down,
let my fingers rest lightly on the keyboard,
and begin.

Photo by Susan DeGraaf

FULLY AND VIBRANTLY ALIVE

She can be brave,
She can be daring,

an intrepid explorer at the South Pole,
an astronaut mapping the Moon,
a hiker crossing the white sands of New Mexico,

or a girl traversing a frozen pond in Maine,
the ice so thick, she can navigate without paddle or boat,

bundled in hat and down coat,
with sure-footed boots carving a path
across the vast expanse,

sun gleaming,
horizon seaming the earth to sky,
she moves steadily,
not afraid of things she can’t explain,

she’s in control of this day,
of the way she wants to think,
to perceive, to receive the light streaming,

illuminating where she’s going,
where she’s been,

for she is brave,
she is daring,
she is fully and vibrantly alive.

Photo taken by my nephew, Daniel Bergin, of his daughter Kaya.