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May 22, 2016

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Photography, Poetry, Writing Tips

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Before and After

IMG_3210

I woke. I groaned.
I clenched my eyes,
but the sunlight
had no mercy.
I rose. I washed
with olive oil soap
and dried with my
fluffy pink towel
(Don’t touch it!).
Ideas rose like fish
to dot the pond
with circles.
I sat in my arm chair
where into my laptop
had flown a poem
by Jane Yolen
that urged me to query,
to risk, to live not hide.
Perhaps she was only
reminding herself,
but her words found me.
I wrote her an email
though I rarely do.
She responded
with the wisdom that
even Shakespeare
could write clunkers.
Something reluctant
unfolded with slow
deliberation into
splendor while birds
cried out for breakfast
and flowers drank rain
outside my gray window.
I remembered that
flowers don’t wonder.
They just bloom.

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I read this in a poem, I heard it in a dream, and then I found it on Goodreads:

“A flower does not think of competing to the flower next to it. It just blooms.”
― Zen Shin

Perhaps it’s true that there are no new ideas. Or perhaps ideas are reborn, find new life and make new connections. Either way, we have to take in and fuse wisdom into our lives.

Have a wonderful remainder of the weekend and a taste of splendor in the days ahead.

Warmly, Brenda

8 thoughts on “Before and After”

  2. I really like the way you wrote this too Brenda, something a little different in style, a poem that makes me want to read more than once – that’s always a good sign! 😉 Can’t say I’ve ever felt remotely competitive at any point in my life, but if I have, it must very hidden. I actually dislike competitions of any kind, mainly because they are that – competitive. Flowers don’t care, and neither should we. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

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