Healthy Connection
Sharing dinner, talking across a table on a chilly evening, taking a night walk to see the constellations bejewel the February sky, bringing lunch to a friend–all these things and many unnamed help to establish the kind of connection that is sustenance and inspiration. Still there are loved ones far away and I’ll read email and Facebook, grateful to live in a time when communication flexes its muscles. Distraction is everywhere. I remind myself to check the river on my ride to the store. Is it low this snowless winter? Waning water may mean fewer fiddleheads in the spring. I see fox and deer sticking their pointy noses into soil that should be frozen but isn’t. The light is coming back. I beckon it like I call to the sea. Can I store the light for the darker times? Many people are going through hardship–lost homes, jobs that disappear, working more for less and counting ourselves lucky to have work at all. Still I long for quiet mornings and free afternoons. Then I hear a student connect a poem to a life transition or a teacher ask for resources to do a unit on metaphor and sound. I want to be able to convey my passion for words but realize also that connection and slowing down are paramount for everyone.
Literary Imaginings by Lisa C. Taylor 