I walked in my garden
and sprinkled seed for the ants
right near their nest
so they wouldn’t have to walk so far
I scattered kitchen scraps for the birds
and filled up their bowl under the hedge with fresh water
wandered around talking to my plants
and making sure they had plenty to drink
I took coffee to my husband while he was still in bed
Made the work team a delicious meal to say thanks
for all their hard labour
As I walked the grocery store floor
tucking fruit and food
the crackling of packets
into my basket
My face was wreathed in smiles
for whomever I crossed paths with
All the problems of the world
That I hadn’t read
Dissipated before they had a chance
to filter into my being
I sat in the sunshine remembering
only this good feeling
over and over
And if it seems a little over mushy peas positivity – I know I get it. I began yesterday morning watching Bruce Springsteen’s address to Manchester and I grew very fierce. That is the sort of motivation I wanted to be as an artist. But then I was distracted by a wild flower and realised – I’m not cut out to sustain that sort of anger.
The full post is on SubStack where I am writing again and enjoying it. It’s free to subscribe and although I post once a day, you will only receive an email with a summary of the threads once a week because otherwise it all becomes a bit too much in the inbox. I would love to find others from the WordPress community over there.
Nothing genuine is ever “mushy peas.” And I, for one, adored this poem. I have and treasure those times, moments or days, where I see the world around me in all its glory and none of its tragedy. It’s real and entertaining that perspective is a vital balm to us and to our world. The anger’s good, too. But as you say, not all of us are cut out to sustain it. Everything has its place, but never underestimate the power of reveling in the moment’s beauty.
P.S. I adore “the crackling of packets in my basket”!!
Looking forward to the SubStack offering!
Thank you Camilla, they are beautiful days when everything feels like sunshine and we in turn shine on everything and everyone around us.
And I’m glad you didn’t mind the mushy peas 😂
🙂 I had times like that today, with birdsong, black bears, a one-eared bunny, spiderlings, and baby llamas gamboling in the field. . . with moments like that, it’s hard not to be ecstatic.
Black bears! Oh you lucky thing. I have often thought to travel all over the world just to see the animals (rather than the tourist sites) I would love to see beavers and squirrels and all sorts of creatures that live in other countries. I have zero interest in zoos though.
I hear you on that! Sure, I could see a tiger for the price of admission, but then I’m not really *seeing* the tiger, am I?
No. Sadly this is what the world is coming to.
Oooh I love it. It made me feel oddly calmer by the end, like I wanted to embrace the goodness, too. I know I’m not alone in finding the abundance of news – almost all of it awful – to be constant and overwhelming and it can cause so many feelings to weigh heavily on us. Anger being one of them. The way it is ‘these days’, it’s hard to turn it off. There’s a time to be angered and outraged and passionate at what’s in the news and what’s happening in the world, but we need to be able to turn it off to live, to enjoy, to appreciate. We lose ourselves and who we are when it becomes so all-consuming. Or at least I think I do sometimes.
Fabulously written, as always.
Caz xx
Thanks Caz. We are so absorbent is the problem – I think that’s why I have felt so much better getting away from watching the news and social media. My husband reads the news every morning without fail and loves to inform me – it was him that told me about DT and BS and then I had to go and look on UTube at what Bruce had said. And then it began. Reclaiming our own attention and what we carry is one of the greatest things we can do. And if I was ever in doubt about the news, I certainly learned my lesson. Thanks for reading lovely X