why I do what I do

When I work

not just for what it pays

or to get praise

I get days of such joy

I realize ( again)  

it's all in an other's eyes  

in all ways always 

I learn more than I teach  

With permission from her mother... look at her  face.  

Yes, SHE IS A WRITER! 

Thank you Shauntay Grant and North Branch Library. 

I needed this reminder. 

Mystic Orange & Apple Red

 Last week out our window. Orange bliss.  I wanted to drink it like some kind of juice drink. 

Today, a storm rages and the wind screams orange and the rafters creak and there's the kind of wild beauty I only wish I could put into words. The fall is so full of orange : my brother and me in the leaves long ago bursting through orange exuberent beauty into rambunctious joy children in search of the magic the redness of apples. Crunch life into cider.  

Now, soothe a sore throat. Now pray he's okay and healing -- so grateful his chemo is over.

Juicy, this life: squeeze out every drop.

Tip toe or Tap dance your tune of true for bliss is the wind is mystic is orange is mystic-all orange.

Or just howl with the wind  Howl o Ween. I will.      

    

 Photo credit : Deanne Fitzpatrick. My feet. Her magic  http://www.hookingrugs.com/   

A Jar Full of Stars

A jar full of stars 

A jar full of stars 

What do you do 

With a jar full of stars 

Well you share those stars

Wherever you are

That's what you do

With a jar full of stars  

Last week was a wonderful purple blur. I gave writing workshops to teachers, university students and a group of high school students. I did readings at libraries and in schools. I got to visit my mother, sister, brother, niece, nephew, and grand nephew. I danced with some galpals to the music of Sheryl Crow and I met some new people----folks I want for my new best friends. I ate coconut cream pie. And I was given a gift of poetry and pictures and...some magic.   

   After my high school session one student approached me and said, "I have something for you." I opened up a tiny box and there, folded in tissue paper was a teeny tiny jar full of stars. "I make them," she said, "you can even wear this one around your neck."

   The stars in the jar are about the size of a pinhead. Origami in miniature. "Why, you could sell this at the market or --" "Oh no," she said, "they're not for sale, they're to give away. Sometimes, I leave them in places people will find them."  

    Two days later I was in an art store, Endeavors, and there was another jar on the counter by the check -out. A bigger jar, but filled with the same kind of muliticolored paper stars. On the jar : Share a smile. Take a star. :)  

    Yes, turns out this was the work of the same young woman. Her art hangs in the store window. I dipped my hand into that little galaxy and two days later I gave away one of those stars to a waitress--- along with a tip. 

     

     When I got home on Sunday, waiting for me was a letter of thanks to me from The Paper Star Girl . 

   

     I wish for more souls like hers to fill our world with stars.  

       

      http://youtu.be/u4Woj9oP3AI  

     

   

   

       

     

Poem for October

Sometimes,

a poem stops time

a Voice whispers:

there, there.  

Here. Hear:  

http://youtu.be/JBQWYO_3FqM