Notice

Kitten noticing and being noticed.

We all need

To be noticed.

I write this and the kitten

Walks across my keyboard,

Moves on to touch noses

With the grandfather cat,

Lies down in the sun,

Work accomplished

For the morning.

In and out

Moving in and out... like the sun.

Watching the sun

Go in and out.

It is an in and out

Sort of day.

I make a list

Of people

Of things

Which call for a blessing

From me.

What do I notice

Today

As the sun finds clouds

To hide behind

And then finds space

Between them.

It is an in and out

Sort of day.

Me and the sun.

Eight things to notice

I do this with clients all the time. What's one thing you will do this week? What's one thing you will pay attention to right now? There's a kind of magic in ones. One day. One thing. One particular bird eating seed under the grapevine out back.

Eight things to notice

Now to pare it down to one

Only one thing now

Conveniently free

Last night I made arrangements with the cat and turtle person down the block.  This morning I drink coffee and write.  I notice the growing pile in the living room.  I tend to the tattoo on my left foot.  My beloved and daughter still sleep, upstairs. 

This week the mornings

Are conveniently free

So I can sit

Write

Drink more coffee

Than I really need.  

This week I notice

The buds on the lily

Are goners,

But still the full flowers

Hold their own.

The living room

Begins to fill

With dorm room

Paraphernalia;

The cat sleeps

On her pile of shoes,

Head propped on a heel

Just so.

Blue jays

I remembered blue jays as primarily grey-blue.  With their disappearance due to the West Nile virus, I had forgotten what stunning birds they really are: grey-blue, yes, but light blue too, with white and black.  Up close they offer much more contrast than I remember.  A pair landed in the backyard, picking seeds next to the garage bushes.  Are those a male and female? I asked my beloved.  To us they look the same, he said, but probably they can tell the difference.

We assumed they left

Down the West Nile… but no.

Or maybe they merely

Took a very long trip.

Better

It is good to have friends who notice.

It is better

She says

To have breakfast

With the likes of Disappointment,

In the spring,

When the weather is warmer,

The light is clearer,

The trees full-blossomed.

How was breakfast

This weekend?

She asked.

I replied

I think we*re getting somewhere,

Wherever somewhere is.

Next

This morning brings

The value in

Not pushing through,

But instead

Relaxing into.

This is not the same thing

As

Giving up

But instead

Noticing what is indeed

The next right thing,

The thing

That clamors to be next,

Hints at its next-ness,

If I only let it be

Next.

Impeded stream

This feels to be a time of waiting and noticing.  In addition to seeing all I have not done (in the backyard and elsewhere), I also see the lone rose and the catbird.  I almost hear the singing.

The impeded stream is the one that sings.

                                                Wendell Berry, in The Real Work

As everyone else seems to do

End of summer things,

Last minute vacations,

I stare at the back yard.

It has gotten little attention from me

In the heat.

The fountain planter

Is filled with weeds.

They grow at the feet

Of the boy and girl.

They hold an umbrella

Between them.

The weeds are almost attractive

In their unplantedness

They grow at the feet

Of the young couple.

The hose lies

Anything but neat

On the cement patio.

One small magenta rose

Hides in the overgrown scraggle

Of what is still

A rose bush.

The drainage ditch beyond the back yard

Barely flows.

Sometimes it masquerades

As a creek

A stream.

It has many disguises.

Still

There is enough water there

For one lone catbird to find it

And delight.

In quiet times

Like today

I almost hear the singing.

Mist on the windshield

I like the days I am not worried about what is next.  It allows me to focus on what is here, right now.  And maybe do things I rarely do, like rearrange the Fiestaware in the cabinet, so different colors are on top.

There was mist on the windshield

After the workout.

It signaled warm

Or warmer.

Maybe more of the snow

Will melt today.

Today I am not worried

About what is next.

I notice the few moments this morning

When my ears unplug.

The breakfast dishes give an opportunity

To admire the clear colors

Of Fiestaware newly clean,

Orange and green and gray.

I rearrange the dishes

So we will eat off different colors

Tonight.

I will scrub down the shower later,

Maybe notice other small things

As it all comes clean.

I am not worried about

What is next.

There was mist on the windshield

This morning.

We will eat off different colors

Tonight.