All We Wish To Be

To think, we have only yet caught a glimpse, a glimmer, a twinkling of our own vastness! Growing older encompasses an exploration of outside spaces and places, but most importantly, our own depths and heights, too. A perennial flowering, periods of seasonal contraction and expansion, joyful surprises offered by love and wonderment right alongside shattering griefs and time-stopping devastations. This mortal coil is not for the meek. We have had to grow the muscles for living amid this swirl of uncertainty. What helps grow these muscles? If you are here now, you probably believe reading is a valuable path to making meaning, to spotting land when lost in restless seas, to grabbing hold of hands and ropes offered by the magicians of the written word. Poetry carries magic, transmits spirit, evokes awakenings, I hope you can agree. Much can be said with so few words. You might experience an infusion of understanding, a homecoming you didn't know you needed, a sanctuary where your overwhelming emotions can be embraced and held softly, supportively. That is my wish for you, as you read the poems in this book over time. From the sacred pilgrimage of love to the delicate steps taken by a curious deer, from the longed-for song and summoning of the common robin in springtime to the invitation of the nestling looking skyward with her beak open, carrying trust and hope on her developing wings-these are but a handful of inspirations found within All We Wish To Be. Please walk with me under these stars for a spell, as the language of poetry illuminates our lives, our hearts, encouraging us onward and, most enchantingly, allowing us to see all the points of light and possibility that dwell right here inside of us. ...
come July
I will not forget this novelty
I will not take for granted
this common bird who is telling me
you do not have be extraordinary
to sing but to sometimes forget the world
and remember the earth
to create
something out of nothing
with your singular voice
and so
to dance with the gods
just because... we are alive
and that is exceptional reason enough --from "The Common Robin"