It hasn’t been much of a traditional holiday at our house.
Bill’s been working away in the basement much of the day.
Two Zoom meetings for me, with helpful folks who were clearly skipping the parades where they live, too.
A soup delivery to a friend and an emergency run to Michael’s for canvases I desperately need for tomorrow. Thank you, Bill!
A batch of proof to read that is both important and urgent.
Plus the usual laundry and dogs.
And, frankly, a significant sense of ambivalence about this particular holiday in this particular moment.
Lest you think we’ve given up completely, the menu for dinner includes lettuce wrapped, grass-fed, sustainably raised burgers, cooked and cooled potato salad (which Mom wouldn’t recognize but might enjoy anyway if she could try it), and watermelon which turns out to be a pretty healthy choice.
As for fireworks, I’m just hoping the dogs won’t notice!
Instead, I’ve been pondering poetry.
Last week, my son, Dave, introduced me to a poet who is new to me. A guy named Billy Collins who is, among other things, a former Poet Laureate of the United States. A bit of hunting around the web today turned up this quote:
I think if a poet wanted to lead, he or she would want the message to be unequivocally clear and free of ambiguity. Whereas poetry is actually the home of ambiguity, ambivalence and uncertainty.”
So, it seems, is our existence which is, I suspect, the point.
Here’s a video of Billy Collins reading one of his poems. It just might be a lot bigger underneath than it seems on the surface…
May all beings be safe and free and well… Including you and yours!
ps – If you’ve been hanging around a while and/or you love dogs, you might want to skip Billy Collins on what dogs really think of us. I’m just sayin’!
We skipped the fireworks too – partly because of the dogs, partly because of the mosquitos, and partly because of our own uncertainty about what, exactly, we’re celebrating this year.
I am holding gratitude though, for the realization that I am privileged and blessed enough that I can hear explosions a mile away and my only concern is that my dogs will be upset. Not all women (and men) of our world have such luxury. I am holding them in my heart today.
Dear Tricia, thank you so much for speaking so clearly about privilege and gratitude. You added a great deal to this message! I think step one is noticing… our feelings and what’s happening. Step two is wondering… in this case, for me, “What can I do?” Part of my answer is to keep writing and painting and sharing. So glad you’re here!