Embodied . Feeling the tightness Present just now dead center Holding it lightly . Tightness grips Holding Containing The scared The center My heart Shielding me From the world Protecting me From danger Holding me Still Silent Frozen . Feeling its way My breath Eases in Slips down Below it all To the center Of my belly Lighting fire To my soul Each slow Breath Releasing Fear . This body Speaks In words And whispers Of what is And what is not Testing the waters Of this world And reaching Beyond edges Opening itself To this world Softening My heart With Kindness

Seeing . Noticing my eyes, Capturing all this moment, What does my brain see? . What do I see Light enters Excited neurons Dancing against The dark wall Of the eye . What do I see Pixilated data Streaming bits Flowing up Along strands Of current . What do I see Layer upon layer Pixels resolving Images emerge Across undulations Of the cortex . What do I see Filtering life Lessons learned Sifting sorting Narrow the stream Of possibility . What do I see Conjured up Selection precise Just this Perfect piece Of this moment . What do I see Just now In this moment Before thinking Alters the scene Of what is here . What do I see Before my mind Processes away The unknown Filling the void Of cognitive bias

Fitting . Like a shirt too tight Constrained by society’s view Shrinking to fit in . To much To little To loud To quiet To big To small To bold To meek To assertive To meek To strange To boring To fast To slow To smart To stupid To liberal To conservative To religious To New age To ugly To beautiful To kind To mean To thoughtful To rash To rich To poor To assertive To agreeable To opinionated To conforming To cynical To forgiving . To many times To many changes To remember To know To recall Just who I am

The Mask . Your show up Wearing a mask Despite the grief You know you will receive Wastrel Scoundrel Fool The stories In the background The words Only heard With a glance Memos arrive Each morning At your desk Explaining Educating Demanding . You show up Wearing a mask Everyday Scared though you are For what it might mean Scared though you are For the family you love Scared though you are For each patient you see Is he the one Will she hurt me Have I been made sick . You show up each day Wearing a mask It is who you are You cannot be What they want Instead You can be What is needed Right now Brave

Honor them . They are the ones Rarely seen Working away Before our eyes In the places No one seems to notice Cleaning the building That will not see traffic Rearranging the schedule Sorting the mail Making sure supplies Never run out Even when There are none Rolling with changes Quietly accepting What needs attention That no one else Gives They are the ones Without which We would surely fail

Notebook and latte, Fountain pens and blank paper, Attracting ideas..

Inky fingers . Inky fingertips, Nibs singing across the page, Letters symphonic... . Ink stained fingers Clutching ancient pens The slight song Of tines drifting Words blossom Upon cotton Pressed pages A ritual Unchanged For years Turning thought Into word The incantation Bringing forth Magic Connection Humanity Sharing across Space Time A conversation Stretched over Years Without beginning And without End

For The #fancynotebookchallange and #nextdraft @carodonahue most of it written prior to 1 March :)

Platos cave . Puppet shadows dance Along the wall entrancing Distracting us all . Distractions grab Pulling us away Drawing our attention From the truth Laying before Our feet The earth Unmoved Asking us What more Do you Need….

April rains . Slushy drifts of snow Punched down by spring’s drizzle Icy lakes arise . On the bay Rafts of ice drift Pushed along Tides and wind Colliding Piling A crowd Waiting to Disperse . Crows sit Each in their Tree Cawling Across the Fresh marsh Staking their Claims . Chickadees Dart an Undulating Flight path From bush To feeder To and fro Singing And chiding At every Stop . The patchwork Of snow Slowly retreats Giving way To finger lakes And puddles That mark Each depression In the earth . In the wind I hear the Whispered Promise Soon… soon… You may dig And plant…