american daydream

School lunch.
Brown face, brown face, brown face,
white.
Brown face, white face, black face.

All smiling.
In English.

All eating hot dogs and chocolate milk.
Having recess.
Brown hand, white hand.
Little color blind friends
Holding hands.
On the playground.

All laughing.
In English.

When they go home,
Who hugs them?
And does it matter
What color of hands
Tuck them at night?

All sleeping.
In English.

Once

Once I was on time and the world forgot that we were meeting someplace, at this time. Once I finished first and no one followed. Once I cleaned the kitchen spotless and my friend said, "It doesn't stay clean, you just have to keep doing it over." Once I had a great idea, but I didn't write it down and I lost it. That's okay, it probably would have been a note like the one Mary Ellen Edmunds wrote to herself in the middle of the night because she had a fantastic thought and didn't want to forget it. In the morning she read the note, and it said, "How can you tell when a person is lying? ... Part of his soul leaks out his ears." Once she used the note for a visual aid at Women's Conference and I laughed. I'd like to be like her. Once.

quality

Because I want to. Because its more beautiful, more inspiring, more fulfilling. Because it feels good to sigh and say (mostly to yourself) "I did that and it turned out so well!" Because best efforts resonate with the divine. Because you can bring a friend to see it and tell your friend, "It feels like flying."

Everything In Its Place

I spied a solitary plastic penguin
Backstroking
Across the carpet.
It splashed
A smile on my face
From that place
Of unassuming cheerfulness.
And who could put a penguin in his pocket
Or in the toy box?
Who would hide delight
And say that it was just a penguin?

head room

Stress takes up a lot of room in a brain and it won't wait. It elbows and pushes and tries to get to the front of the line. Then it takes too long deciding which ice cream flavor. By the time stress is through you don't care if you had enough money for a double scoop, you just want to go home now, thank you very much.