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Blackberry Fool  Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.  Boats in the Harbour at Collioure, 1905 (oil on canvas), Andre Derain (1880-1954) / Private Collection  Photo: Dennis Sullivan, Canadian troops on their way to Juno Beach, June 6, 1944 Shake the Dust
Anis Mojgani This is for the fat girls This is for the little brothers This is for the schoolyard wimps and the childhood bullies that tormented them For the former prom queen and for the milk crate ball players For the nighttime cereal eaters And for the retired elderly Walmart store front door greeters Shake the dust This is for the benches and the people sitting upon them For the bus drivers who drive a million broken hymns For the men who have to hold down three jobs simply to hold up their children For the nighttime schoolers And for the midnight bikers who are trying to fly Shake the dust This is for the two year olds Who cannot be understood because they speak half English and half God Shake the dust For the boys with the beautiful sisters Shake the dust For the girls with the brothers who are going crazy For those gym class wallflowers and the twelve year olds afraid of taking public showers For the kid who is always late to class because he forgets the combination to his locker For the girl who loves somebody else Shake the dust This is for the hard men who want love but know that it won't come For the ones who are forgotten The ones the amendments do not stand up for For the ones who are told speak only when you are spoken to And then are never spoken to Speak every time you stand so you do not forget yourself Do not let one moment go by that doesn't remind you That your heart, it beats 900 times every single day And that there are enough gallons of blood to make everyone of you oceans Do not settle for letting these waves that settle And for the dust to collect in your veins This is for the celibate pedophile who keeps on struggling For the poetry teachers and for the people who go on vacation alone For the sweat that drips off of Mick Jaggers' singing lips And for the shaking skirt on Tina Turner's shaking hips For the heavens and for the hells through which Tina has lived This is for the tired and for the dreamers For those families that want to be like the Cleavers with perfectly made dinners And songs like Wally and the Beaver This is for the bigots, for the sexists, and for the killers And for the big house pin sentenced cats becoming redeemers And for the springtime that somehow seems to show up right after every single winter This is for everyone of you Make sure that by the time the fisherman returns you are gone Because just like the days I burn at both ends And every time I write, every time I open my eyes I'm cutting out parts of myself simply to hand them over to you So shake the dust And take me with you when you do for none of this has ever been for me All that pushes and pulls And pushes and pulls And pushes and pulls It pushes for you So, grab this world by its clothespins And shake it out again and again And jump on top and take it for a spin And when you hop off shake it again For this is yours, this is yours Make my words worth it Make this not just some poem that I write Not just some poem like just another night that sits heavy above us all Walk into it, breathe it in, let it crash through the halls of your arms Like the millions of years of millions poets Coursing like blood, pumping and pushing Making you live, shaking the dust So when the world knocks at your front door Clutch the knob tightly and open on up And run forward and far into its widespread, greeting arms With your hands outstretched before you Fingertips trembling, though they may be  The beginning of the solar eclipse NASA/Aubrey Gemignan Miracles
Walt Whitman Why, who makes much of a miracle? As to me I know of nothing else but miracles, Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan, Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky, Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of the water, Or stand under trees in the woods, Or talk by day with any one I love, or sleep in the bed at night with any one I love, Or sit at table at dinner with the rest, Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car, Or watch honey-bees busy around the hive of a summer forenoon, Or animals feeding in the fields, Or birds, or the wonderfulness of insects in the air, Or the wonderfulness of the sundown, or of stars shining so quiet and bright, Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon in spring; These with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles, The whole referring, yet each distinct and in its place. To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle, Every cubic inch of space is a miracle, Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with the same, Every foot of the interior swarms with the same. To me the sea is a continual miracle, The fishes that swim—the rocks—the motion of the waves—the ships with men in them, What stranger miracles are there? This poem is in the public domain. “It is always worth itemising happiness, there is so much of the other thing in a life, you had better put down the markers for happiness while you can.” ~Sebastian Barry, The Secret Scripture How to Recognize Grace
Marilyn Chandler McEntyre It takes you by surprise It comes in odd packages It sometimes looks like loss Or mistakes It acts like rain Or like a seed It’s both reliable and unpredictable It’s not what you were aiming at Or what you thought you deserved It supplies what you need Not necessarily what you want It grows you up And lets you be a child It reminds you you’re not in control And that not being in control is a form of freedom. |
"Ideas
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"Perhaps this is one of the secrets of life--to know 'glory' when we see it."
--Charlotte Mason
Virtual Life?
A wee explanation: this website was created as a way to amplify the daily surprise of seeing glory in one small life. The notebook entries represented here are all selected from things actually lived and noted on paper in an effort to live the full life British educator Charlotte Mason so ably championed.
In Appreciation
Photos chosen are linked to their original posts in most cases because I have found something of value there and hope my readers will likewise find a helpful resource. In the case of miss-attribution or if you desire your work not be linked, please let me know.
Photos chosen are linked to their original posts in most cases because I have found something of value there and hope my readers will likewise find a helpful resource. In the case of miss-attribution or if you desire your work not be linked, please let me know.
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