WORDS LIKE LIGHT

Saturday, June 26, 2021

INNOVATIVE 

            Today, like all days, each moment will be made fresh. There will be nothing old about today – no old thoughts, no old cares and concerns, no old joys and sorrows. Every moment will be unprecedented and trail-blazing. Feelings never felt before will roll through my life, and totally inventive thoughts will steadily spring to the surface. Trouble is, it probably won’t seem that way. For most of the days of my life, ‘same old’ has been a common phrase for me. I’ve seemed to think the same old thoughts, feel the same old feelings, follow the same old roads leading to the same old results. I seemed to seldom see newness as my 79 years passed – just the same old minutes making their monotonous way toward who-knows-where.  Now, though, I know better. Now – today – it’s clear to me that newness is everywhere and everything. Each present moment is completely unconventional, a new birth in a brand new world. Everything – every action, every thought, every feeling, every sight I see – is absolutely unprecedented, an off-center, avant-garde gift to brand new me. Yes, life sometimes seems loaded with elderliness, but this is simply an illusion. Beneath the ostensible oldness of all things lives an intrinsic inventiveness, a freshness that’s constantly disclosing itself. All I have to do is swing open the always mint condition, state-of-the-art door of life and see it.  

PEOPLE WITH UNUSUAL JOBS

A man 
who motivates clouds 
to keep moving.
(He shouts and sings to them from hills.)
A woman
who stands beside sad people 
and shines as brightly as possible. 
(She's good at this 
because she understands herself.) 
A boy 
who blesses birds 
before they start across town from trees. 
(He worships wings
and has two secret ones 
attached to his heart.)
A man 
who helps pencils make poems. 
(He lifts his left hand 
and lines of words 
never before seen
suddenly appear.)