Expansion

Our journeys take us different places. We all expand... differently.

I remember

In college,

Sitting in the coffee shop

With a Christian fundamentalist friend.

I drew pictures

On a napkin

Of how I believe

God works:

God in the middle

Of everything,

With so many lines

To approach Him

Or Her.

He grew more and more

Agitated

One Way

He said.

Then he repeated

One Way.

My friend

Had dabbled in the occult,

Had become a Mormon

For awhile.

He found a home

In college,

A Quaker college

(at that).

One Way

He repeated

One Way.

We finished our coffee.

He became

Roman Catholic.

I went to seminary.

Gold leaves

More steps in gold leaves.

I wake and wonder

What next steps

I shall take,

What next steps

I shall put off

For now.

I know

They will come later.

I am on the road

To Oz.

Gold leaves

Cover the front walk.

My companions are often

Unlikely.

I am on the road

To Somewhere.

Gold leaves

Blanket the front walk

And yes

The back yard

As well.

Which door

Shall I use?

My companions offer

Different possibilities.

They search

For brains

For courage

For heart.

Gold leaves show us

The way.

We

All of us

Search for Home.

School choice

We are embarked upon the college journey once again, this time with our daughter.   I remember my own journey, its twists and turns to arrive at this particular place.  I hope it will be the same for my daughter... in a good way, of course, but with enough of the unforeseen to make it interesting and surprising and yet, of a piece, every step of the way.

We knocked another school

Off the list

Yesterday.

My daughter*s list

Holds familiar

Anomalies.

There is no telling

The futures

The list holds.

I used to be married

To the rare person

Who knew from beginning to end

The process he would follow.

Most everyone else

Near and dear to my heart

Has walked this way,

Then that,

Then found

Himself

Herself

Outside Eden*s gates

Wandering unknown territory

With a bite of fruit

Left to be chewed and swallowed.

I used to be married

To someone who knew

From beginning to end

The exact path

He would follow.

Now I am married

To someone else.

I wouldn*t have it

Any other way.

Christopher Columbus

Today it struck me that ole CC did not know where he was going, either.  Just set sail for what he thought was probably China and found... the Bahamas.  In the midst of journeys which have their unfamiliar pieces, I am glad for the familiar touchstones, glad for family and autumn and writing something every day, no matter what.


Today is Columbus Day. On October 12th, 1492, Christopher Columbus landed on an island in what is now the Bahamas.

The Bahamas sound appealing

But first

I*d rather not miss anything here.

I squint at the computer screen

Blown up larger than life,

Write in the morning sun.

It slants autumn

Through the front window.

Fall completely arrived

Over the weekend.

In the backyard

Leaves fill the lawn.

The clients I did not have in summer

Called to set up appointments

For the one day

I was never in the office

Before.

Christopher Columbus did not know

About the Bahamas

Before he set sail.

I imagine he thought he would end up

Someplace familiar.

Me too.

I planned a different trip.

Now is the familiar

Through shimmery eye, bigger letters,

Another six months of chauffeured

Luxury.

Now I find familiar fall light

The family breathing soft upstairs

And the Bahamas

On the horizon.

Me and Chris.

Chris and me.