The Art of a Poem

Maybe the original intent of this blog was to post evidence of my hobby/craft, and though I'm a beginner as an "artist" (notice: still in quotations), I think I've always had the heart and soul of one. One hint of this is that I have always loved poetry passionately. It speaks so deeply and so clearly to me. So today's post is not visual, physically, but visual emotionally. Isn't that what art is, to bring into physicality a deep emotion? Poetry does that so beautifully. Thanks to my friend, Paula, for passing along this gem.

TO BE CONTENT WITH WHAT IS GIVEN
by Roseann Lloyd

to sit in your car at the wayside rest
watching the seagulls
high over the water
somehow they're backlit even though
the fog has taken the sun

to be ordinary
to stop and read every sign on the Nature Trail
unashamed of taking this day hike
this easy hike
hard-driving backpackers scorn

to be present to your life
to walk in the green sweetness
of the spring woods
feeling your winter stiffness as you walk
mindful yet not minding
everyone has scars

to be content with what is given
to take in the dusty sun smell on the piney path
new earth released from snow
to say all the names of the wildflowers
knowing they won't stick in your mind tomorrow
mertensia bunchberry blue-eyed grass

to be gentle to yourself
to walk slowly along the creek
watching the sparkle of rocks in water
pink and gold and silver
the rusty color of root beer
to stand like a cow in the mud

to be open to ordinary pleasures
to watch the fat moon rise
over the lake over
the cliff where the cliff swallows fly
to accept the gift of not knowing
before you got here
that the moon would be full.