Hello beautiful human,
One year ago today I started a job at my local pharmacy, working as a Pharmacy Technician. The world is full of big juicy surprises. Never in any dream or on anyone’s bingo card of my life was that even a mention. Tomorrow, to mark the occasion, I’m sending out a small fragment, a prose-poem or bit of sea-glass depending on what angle you view it from, to my paid subscribers, words from a year ago. A small celebratory gift.
Don’t be afraid to say yes to the unexpected, I remind myself. The Universe is a big old place.
Also this week, I received a gift in the mail from a former student. Her words, beautifully published by Finishing Line Press. I read the book start to finish in a single sitting. Many of the poems old friends I remember reading, discussing, suggesting, going back and forth about lines, images, words, the work of poets bent over the page.
As I slowly come back to that work myself, it’s lovely to have her book to consider and savor. Another wink and wave from The Grand Scheme, letting me know I’m on the right path, one way or another. I’ve done some things. I’ve had an impact. And maybe I have more to do.
Books are one of humanity’s biggest magics of all time. You can’t convince me otherwise. No matter where our technological evolutions take us as a species, a book in the hand— a compendium, collection, small bristly fact— is still a non-negotiable, resilient technology that lasts, a treasure that can be shared, kept, or sent into the world.
A book, whether it’s recipes or poems or essay or fantasy novel, will give up its secrets in direct relation to how deeply the reader engages with it. Books read us as much or more as we read them and that’s a slightly scary thing to consider.
I believe a human being is a kind of a book as well.
Your time and attention are the true gifts. Thank you. xoS
The Gallery
As gratitude, I always share a few “good goodies,” a gallery of Small Brave Things I’ve come across: photos, art or quotes, links, and a peek or two behind the scenes for my paid subscribers.
Today, a poem from Lina’s book, a small secret garden I discovered on my way home from work the other day, and the usual glimpse behind the scenes and curtains.
Thank you for supporting one woman’s explorations, reveries and recoveries. You have my heart.
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