Showing up is one thing;

 being present is quite another. 

Nevertheless, I persist.

                                                                 JDG

Taking advantage

of a mid-afternoon break,

I choose to move. Yippee Dee.

                                                                       JDG

Shattered by disbelief,

must we remain forever captive

 to the cruelty of the indifferent

who offer false condolences,

phony platitudes,

and patriotic justifications

for doing nothing,

for doing too little,

  for undoing progress?

Can we, instead, rise together,

shatter our chains,

pick up the scattered pieces,

and build from them a saner world?

                                                                                                 JDG

Torn between now, no, and later,

 I picked now and, I must confess,

I feel a whole lot better.

                                                                        JDG

There they are again,

those unwanted visitors –

sadness, anger, frustration

and despair. They tug

and flail and shove. They moan and

groan and shout until

in desperation I try

something new. Instead

of trying to get rid of them,

I open heart and home and mind.

I sit and watch and listen.

  Caught off guard by this approach,

 they look at me distrustfully

and slowly slip away.

                                                                                      JDG

Like so much in life,

though not obvious at first,

the benefits show later.

                                                                JDG

After a morning

 and afternoon spent reading,

I regrouped and began.

                                                                JDG

Just yesterday

I was a teenager

who knew so much,

having to deal with

ancient folks  who thought

they knew so much more.

Now I am an ancient one

who knows so much,

having to deal with

teenagers who think

they know so much more.

                                                                    JDG