Wondering

Standing in the kitchen 

As my morning coffee perks into being, 

I watch as the ship passes Mount Baker 

On its way to Seattle and wonder: 

Who’s on board? Where are they from, 

And what’s in their containers? 

How long have they been at sea, 

 And don’t they miss their families? 

And do their hearts still thrill 

To the pink sun on the mountain 

And the way the colors echo in the water,

 Or has the long journey jaded their reactions?

Community: true or false

Like so many birds, flocking together, 

Or sheep, we follow these trends: 

What we eat, what we read, what we wear — 

It’s all there; you have only to look, to see 

We are not only creatures of habit, 

We’re hungry for belonging, 

And eager to fit in; the outliers are few, 

And far between. What does it mean? 

Could it be there’s something missing, 

Some hole we need to fill? 

Or were we consciously designed 

 To crave community; it’s just easier 

To mask our differences 

Than to work towards a true collaboration?

A new day

A new day dawns, ushering in 

 Yet another new year; 

Yet another opportunity 

 To create, to reform, 

 To be thoughtful and kind and generous; 

To resist and fight back; 

To love and find love; 

To bear witness to all that is good in the world; 

That is fragile and precious, 

Brave and unique and endangered — 

Yes you, who are all of those attributes and more, 

Have been given the chance 

To be more, to explore, to give back, to redeem, 

To embrace, yet again, all the marvelous options 

 That come with a new year of life.