Summer solstice

More than necessary

It’s summer

The solstice

I subtract the things

Which call forth

More

And more

And more

Than necessary

Summer solstice.

Room for change

Wow. This one didn't go where I thought it would go. I'd forgotten about the magical order of PEMDAS. Sometimes subtraction comes first. Today I am unsubscribing from a few automatic email sites. Farewell Lands End. Goodbye J. Peterman.

I spend every Lent

In addition and subtraction,

Multiplication and division

Of thoughts and actions.

There is always room for change.

Sometimes I keep it on the bedside table;

Sometimes it rattles around

In my coat pocket.

When I buy a sandwich

The change goes

In the tip jar.

Addition and subtraction

Multiplication and division

There is always room for change.

Change adds pathways

To our brain,

Subtracts others.

We all have different orders

Of operation.

It’s not PEMDAS

For everyone

In that magical order.

But change

Is absolute.

Change itself

Is absolute.

Oh so fine

Lunch this week with friends.  They asked questions I could not answer.  I am aware that I am in the midst of reclamation of things I had put aside for some time, and subtraction of things somehow extraneous.  Perhaps I have always been doing this.  Perhaps this is a piece of what it means to be human.  I rather like that thought.  Perhaps I have been doing what I was called to do all along.

Doors and windows wide open

The world intrudes

Cardinals

Dogs

Trains

The occasional airplane

Overhead

Distant cars from the Elgin-O’Hare:

It originates

In neither place.

Doors and windows open

The breeze blows through

Slightly chilly but oh

So fine.

I claim back

What I must,

Continue subtraction of all

With no internal sense

Or sensibility

Until what remains is clear

Then

Clearer still.

It blows through

Slightly chilly, yes,

But oh

So fine.

Autumnal reflection

As I drop letters after my name, I feel strangely lighter.  My beloved and I joke about what it will look and sound like when only a breath mark remains.  I don't know what other couples talk about over breakfast, but this is one of our conversations.

As leaves fall,

Chill arrives,

It seems right

I continue the process

Of subtraction:

Certifications

After my name,

Recently acquired certifications,

Are the first to go.

The degrees were earned

And paid for,

They can stay

For now.

Soon enough

They too will go.

I imagine one autumn

My family name will dissolve

Letter by letter

Until only the name

God recognizes

Will remain.

Until finally

Even those letters will disappear

And

I am named

As breath in…

Breath out…

Then words

Will have done their duty.