The Crank

Silver Gelatin Print

Photo: Vivian Maier (Girl Crying) N.Y. 1954

 

She huffed and she puffed and she stomped her small feet. She whined and she cried and she kicked the car seat. She refused to wear shoes, threw her coat on the ground. Made sure everyone heard her for miles around. She tossed food on the floor. Then asked for some more … Like a kid on a mission for the spoiled child edition.

Evening came.

Gramma called.

Mama handed the phone.

“Tell me now, little one, what on earth’s going on?”

“I’m a crank,” the child said in response. “Now Mama’s tired, all on my own.”

 

 

 

For more of Vivian Maier’s amazing photography: http://www.vivianmaier.com/

For The Daily Post

Glimmers of Hope

Puppy ToniHadi

Photo: Toni Hadi

 

Even in chaos

Where foul mouths and ill deeds offer little beyond

Spin and mope,

You can find and define many glimmers

Of hope:

In the smiles of a child,

In the buds that push up from a freshly thawed ground,

In expanding delight of inquiring minds,

In the light that reflects from a window just shined,

In the wriggling joy of a pup under hand,

In humanity’s goals that your heart understands,

Your soul now demands,

And your words and your acts and your vote get behind.

 

 

For The Daily Post

Hold Up

Mt Taranaki2 InbarAsif

Photo: Inbar Asif

 

It is alright

To pause,

To stop,

To dial back the crush

Of too chaotic

Stuff.

Hold up.

It won’t disrupt

Your pace of life,

If you let in a slower breath

That fills your lungs

With calm,

Instead of huff

And puff.

 

 

 

For The Daily Post

Fickle Fury

flood2 OfirAsif

Photo: Ofir Asif

 

In the furor of fury

Frothing rage

At the truth,

Do not let floods

Form furrows

In foundations of sooth.

Let the foam

Ferry falsehoods

Like the filth film

From swamps,

And find footholds

In facts

Against fear flashing

Tromps.

 

 

For The Daily Post

Story Buds

budding NaamaYehuda

Photo: Na’ama Yehuda

 

Fledgling stories

Flap immature wings

In my mind,

Inchoate plots

I don’t yet

Understand.

They unfurl

Like the leaves

From a still tight closed bud –

A surprise

For the growth

That awaited

Inside.

 

 

For The Daily Post

For The Long Haul

Ethiopia6 DvoraFreedman

Photo: Dvora Freedman

 

In places too many

On this one blue-green ball,

Children haul

More than the weight of firewood

On their backs,

Big or small.

Sorrow, loss, illness, agony

Needs unmet

Unheard calls …

Yet they are all

Our children,

Their pain is our

Shortfall.

They are worthy of better:

In the now

For the future

For humanity’s long haul.

 

 

 

For The Daily Post