Photo by P. Tonery 2017 New beginnings(soon-to-be Monarch butterfly) about to take wing . . . The garden looks beautiful, full of fruits and veggies, ripening . . . Putting by will happen in the first weeks of school. Oh my, I will be terribly busy.
So this is the last week of quiet preparation. Yesterday, I finished proof-editing (first round) my fourth full length poetry collection This Thirst, that's soon-to-be released in late September, 2017 by Kelsay Books. Re-reading the manuscript, line by line, made me quite thoughtful about this collection. Mostly lyric poems looking closely at this temporal life, trying to make sense of it.
This summer has been so strange. I feel like I haven't accomplished much, but then again, listing everything on paper, I have accomplished a lot, but I think reading and watching the daily news has put me in a constant state of washing machine deep-cycle churning, which makes me feel mentally "beat up." Spending time in our gardens, I think about how I can change this current disregard for what it means to be American. I believe in the power of "Yes," for all Americans, who have come here to give their best to our country.
I get it. I know that I am privileged by upbringing, by education, by living a life of inconvenience, I am actually free from the trappings of convenience. Growing older, I wonder if I can pass on any of this knowledge? Whether it is about sustainability, or writing, or caring about this wondrous Earth.
All around, despite the weather delays, the growing cycles are moving forward.
Yesterday, at a gas station, someone left a painted inspirational cobble stone on a stone curb. Of course, I looked at it and it said: Patience. I felt it was a sign.
