Day 163 This Day

May 21, 2015

(This is part of a 365 project during my 70th year where I write and illustrate a blog on each day's gift.)

For years, I have been keeping an eye out for a leaf that mirrors one I saw in 1973, one that inspired a poem typed on a Royal typewriter and a black and white photo taken with a Nikon F on TriX film. The leaf held tiny raindrops around it, adorned with a crown of sparkling jewels. It’s interesting how an image from many years ago remains in my memory but today I cannot recall what I did ten minutes ago. I wonder why a minute detail from that day has been etched into my mind. I do not remember anything else about then but I was in another marriage, another life, and it was a misty, light rain, gray day like today. Maybe it was an instant where I felt my aliveness deeply. Perhaps my mind conjured up this image after a discussion with a friend about death this morning. For some reason, rainy days seem to heighten my awareness.

So today, I found a bejeweled leaf and, amazingly, my old poem from more than 40 years ago. This time I took a color photo but did not write a new poem. I am mixing the old with the new, the past with the present, the way water from yesterday flows into today. Since then, I have become a better photographer and a better poet. And my spirit is still very much alive. 

This Day

This day reigns like a leaf

crowned with droplets of aliveness

reflecting images of

past pleasures

present awareness

and future phantoms

mirroring delicate spheres of “I am’s”

quivering with the closeness of my breath

and shattering at my rain-soaked feet

My gift today is a crown.

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> Day 164: Wonder

You can find links to my other posts on this project here:
http://bjschupp.blogspot.com/2014/12/365-gifts.html

Silver

My friend Tanika is around 25—

more like exactly a quarter century—

and she says she was born with a silver heart.

That ain’t nothin’ declares Elijah

who says he was born with a gold tooth.

He’s 80—more or less.

She says a gold tooth can fall out

and then what do you got?

Nothin’.

He says then the tooth fairy

will pitch it up to shine

among fairy stars that will sparkle

from heaven and reach down to

tickle his mouth until

he can’t help but grin and be happy.

Gold teeth be forever

whether inside or out.

He flashes a smile.

Tanika says some people are born

with a silver spoon but

thieves can steal silver spoons and then

there’s nothin’ left and then you gotta

stir your coffee with your fingers.

No one can swipe my silver heart she says.

It can tarnish with bad hurtin’ air and meanness

but I just rub it

polish it

shine it until folks that fling darts

are blinded.

And you can reflect on that, Elijah.

He threw a smile aimed at her silver heart

and it came back brighter in its reflection.

© Bonnie Schupp