Panic’s Anti-Dote

anti-dote

photo: dreamaker2.tumblr.com

 

There’s scare aplenty

Wide cause for alarm

A lot to frown at

Much that charters harm.

No wonder

Panic comes.

Trepidation pushes buttons of old worries

Latches through the tentacles

Of history

And ill-used charm.

It glitters daggers

Into

Masquerading stars and sun.

No wonder

Panic comes.

And yet …

Be brave

Stand firm

Lock arms

Form links

Knit facts

Raise voice

Weave hope

As panic’s anti-dote.

 

 

For The Daily Post

Empty

(Dedicated with love to the children who survived, and to those who couldn’t.)

Luchenza Orphanage by photocillin on Flickr

Orphanage by photocillin on Flickr

 

There were no toys. There were no hugs.

There were no hands to pat wet eyes.

There were no smiles. There were no songs.

There were no calming lullabies.

There were long nights. There were cold days.

There were no comforts when one cried.

There was just time.

Immense.

Indefinite.

There was just fear.

Impervious.

Infectious.

There were blank stares.

A deafening silence.

There were human metronomes

Rocking in desperate absence.

 

There were no words.

There still aren’t any.

Just threads of heart

To weave the splintered

Into many.

 

 

 

 

For The Daily Post

Loose Control

now

 

When details crowd you in — take a step into quiet.

When to-dos heap on tasks — take a moment, be still.

When emotions flood senses — take a breath, shed a tear, find your laughter.

When frustration creeps in — let it be, let you be, let it roll.

Relax the hold

Of control.

When minutia takes over the foreground — lift your soul, find horizon.

When time flies beyond call — stop the clocks.

Let it slide.

Let the the mess have a corner.

Let it go.

It is fine.

Life will flow.

Take a breath.

Unclasp

The grip

Of control.

 

 

For The Daily Post

 

Breathe in

Breathe in the scent of spring

The fragrance of new growth

Of verdant leaves

Of rain

Of flowers.

Let new life fill your lungs

Your heart

With light

Perfumed by sun

And sky

And sudden showers.

Breathe in your fill

Of hope

Of splendor

Stock up your mind

With awe

To brighten

Any dreary hour.

 

For The Daily Post

 

Knackered

melissa_puglise_yankee_4baabf6ee6781a20edc78cf3f55e8b3f.today-inline-large

Photo: today.com/parents

When you’re out of juice

Depleted

Wrung out

Brain-mushed

Yawn-injected …

Take the time to rest.

When you’re harking for the days

Of face plant in spaghetti …

It’s time for slug-fest.

When you’re putting keys in fridge

And eggs in pockets …

Take the hint

And

Make a nest.

 

 

[Dedicated with much love to Adele, who I have a feeling understands … :)]

 

For The Daily Post

The Blanket

diaryofaquilter

photo: diaryofaquilter.com

 

He took it with him everywhere: School, the doctor’s office, the park, the car, the dinner table. He carried it in hand, in the backpack, over his shoulder. It was to him a cape, a comfort, a memory of tucking in, a constancy.

It’s always been there. He couldn’t remember a time before.

Well-worn, oft-washed, much-handled.

His blanket.

Never out of sight.

He’d sit before the washing machine and watch it spinning, floppy, in a foamy sea. Later he’d guard the dryer as the blanket tumbled, already impatient to come back warm and scented into his arms.

He’d place it at the ready on the bathroom stepstool to guard him as he washed. A sentinel over his pajamas.

It waited right under the chair at mealtime, in temporary exile from his lap after his argument that the blanket could make an excellent napkin had failed.

Even at school, where he wasn’t allowed to hold it, he’d leave a small blanket-ear peeking out of his cubby; to remind him it was there, with him, waiting for the end of the school-day.

It was a coat of heart, a shroud of courage, a cover against storms of any kind.

It was almost part of him. His blanket.

Then the fire came. He was carried half-in-sleep and heavy-headed, by a man whose giant shadow painted wall-monsters against the orange flicker and the swirling smoke.

There was more flicker outside: blue and red and white and blinding. Shouts and calls and creaks and cries and movement. Yellow coats, red truck, bright door, funny mask.

And no blanket.

It was gone. To Blanket Heaven.

A spark in the sky now. A spot of cloud. A star.

Lost along with Curious George and Teddy Ben and his dinosaur car.

 

 

 

For The Daily Post

 

 

 

“I Gray?”

play-dough-people-faces

Photo: picklebums.com

 

His maman is from Haiti. His “so called papa” is “no one you’d want to remember” (as per his maman and grand-maman) because he has “no color in his eyes or heart.”

The boy has soft waves of honey brown hair. Cupid lips. Deep brown eyes. Light caramel skin. Freckles on his nose.

He’s recently discovered the magic of combining colors. He finds it entrancing. He is especially moved by the alchemy of what happens when you add white.

“You have black?” he asks, pointing to the Play-doe containers on my shelf.

“No,” I note, “I ran out. But I have brown.”

“Let me see.”

I hand him a container and he pulls the lid off and inspects the contents. “It in the wrong place,” he states, pointing to the yellow lid.

“I know. I just used a container I already had. It didn’t come that way. We made the brown from mixing different colors.”

“Who make it?”

“One of the other kids I work with made it. You want to try and make brown, too?”

He frowns, considers, shakes his head. “But I want some.”

“You want to use some of it? Sure. Go ahead.”

He pinches a bit of the dough and rolls in pensively between his fingers. “You have white?”

“I do!” I give him the white-topped container. He peeks in. After the yellow-topped one holding brown, one never knows …

He pulls out a chunk and begins kneading the white piece into the brown. A moment passes, then another. He’s quiet. He’s got something on his mind.

“Brown people are called black,” he notes.

“Hmm…” I nod. I wonder if he’d say more.

He glances at the yellow lid and I wonder if he’s wondering if it is one more of those “in the wrong place” designations. He sighs.

“I black but I also white,” he raises his eyes to me. “That mean I gray?”

 

 

For The Daily Post