From behind the East Greenbush Holiday Inn
Your travel companions must be chosen
with care and with the utmost discretion.
They will eat gladly at that small diner
with the giant pickup trucks parked out front
choosing to sit, not at the broad counter
despite the allure of the spinning stools,
but at a table befitting a guest.
All the regulars pour their own coffee
teasing the waitress, joking with the cook.
Kindly, the young waitress asks where we’re from
and asks then, is that near a place she knows.
The regulars eat their dinners, passing salt.
They point to pies, kept in a glass case and
turning to us, one says, you should have some.
The work is endless, every day brings more
The work is itself unchanging, always.
The work is for a moment rewarding
The work is routine past repetition.
This flower, turning its head to the sun
This flower, spreading its leaves to the air
This flower, existing for this spring day
This flower, holding light and air precious.
I am here, the task is before me now
I am here, the power below my feet
I am here, the flower is at my feet
I am here, the work is mine to complete.
The sun surrounds both the flower and me
we complete our work, the flower and me.
Before I went to New Zealand last year I had gotten a new camera and I decided to get two extra batteries for it, rather than my one spare. Hey, I correctly predicted that I would be taking a LOT of photos. Worked out great. One in camera, one in my pocket or purse and one with the camera bag. At night I could charge one or two as needed and still have a fresh one.
I pulled out the camera the other day and the battery was in the red so I pulled the one from the camera bag and put it in, putting the tired one in my pocket. Bring it inside and put it on the charger. Look in my purse, sure enough there’s the other one. But where’s the third, I ask myself. Look in the camera bag – oh, that one’s charging. One in the purse…
You can see where this is going. Spent a couple days wondering where the heck the third battery had gone to.
Yup. You called it – it was in the camera, all along.
Hey, it happens.
That’s the point of working with one’s hands, you see. It gives the mind something else to do besides worry.
