Find

A HAIKU POEM FOR TODAY

walking among trees

I was found by the forest 

and also by me

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Over the long years of my life, I have written maybe close to a thousand poems, but I always hesitate to say that I ‘wrote’ them, because what I really did was ‘find’ them. When Delycia and I are doing one of our walks together, we always find interesting things along the road or trail, and, when I’m walking along the minutes of a morning or afternoon at my desk, I often find words that seem perfect for a poem. It’s as if they are lying beside the trails of my mental wanderings, and – luckily – I just happen to notice them, then pause, then pick them up and set them somewhere inside a poem.

This morning we did a memorable walk at the Oswegatchie Nature Preserve in Niantic (CT), and somewhere along the trail, I ‘found’ an idea inside me that said I could ‘find’ a poem just by talking as I’m walking. Seemed like a fine idea, so, as we walked, I occasionally pulled out my phone and said a few words into the microphone – words I just happened to ‘find’ waiting on the tip of my tongue. Truly, it doesn’t feel like I ‘made’ the words I spoke, but that I simply discovered them and put them to use. It was a light-hearted and relaxed adventure – discovering beautiful words while walking a beautiful trail. If you have 4+ minutes, take a listen:

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THE POWER OF GRATITUDE (written during Covid-19)

He sat beside a vase of flowers
and felt filled up with gentleness.
The seeming chaos and distress
of all the world was gone. The powers
 
he felt were soft and reassuring.
The sunshine through the windows flowed
into him like streams, and slowed
him down, and helped him start to sing.
 
The flowers were his audience.
He sang a song he'd never heard,
and felt just like a grateful bird
who sat upon a simple fence 
 
and couldn't find a reason to complain.
The flowers seemed to like his song
and shined with golden light. Along
the western hills a single lane
 
of birds was slowing down to hear
a guy sing out with mellowness and praise.
A squirrel on the lawn in rays
of sunlight stopped and raised its ear.