"Notes from the Backyard"

The trees lean in.

The last of the autumn leaves rustle.

Fire clouds drift

languidly

across the sky.

You lift fallen apples,

gather them in your hands

to gauge their weight.

They dangle lazily from your fingers

like small planets.

You close your eyes.

Around you, the ambient hum of suburbia,

families sighing into dinner,

garages closing their heavy eyes,

and you listen like a phantom,

your own opera unspooling gently.

The air darkens.

Good ideas

A while ago, I posted a video of Susan Cain's RSA short for "The Power of Quiet." I just love animated videos like that (and this one below), especially when they're combined with some real food for thought. It's a winning combination you can't help but love.

Food for the Brain (and Soul)

I've read so many spectacular articles lately and have wanted to write about each one. Unfortunately, that would take me way too long, so I'm sharing a few of them here in a link roundup:

• Seth Godin: The race to the bottom
• Maira Kalman: "To have an empty brain is a complete delight."
• The science of vocal stereotyping
• America's genius glut
• Wise words from Ted Hughes
• Kevin Kelly on the kindness of strangers

Happy reading! I hope you enjoy these just as much as I do.

National Poetry Month 2013

National Poetry Month starts in just two months! I'm particularly excited because I have recommitted myself to participating in NaPoWriMo, so this April will hopefully be a productive one. To get yourself excited, take a look at this year's beautiful poster (and order your free copy while supplies last):

On Reaching Goals

"Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it's just not that good. It's trying to be good, it has potential, but it's not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn't have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know it's normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I've ever met. It's gonna take a while. It's normal to take a while. You've just gotta fight your way through." --Ira Glass

Edit: Coincidentally, I just discovered this quote on another blog, albeit with a cool graphic. Take a look.

"Froth"

Beneath the dying Mexican sun,
the tide carried us on its shoulders
and promised us one last time
that we were giants.

We came out of the sea,
limp weeds clinging to our water-worn ankles,
dried cheeks stinging.
The blue sang behind us, foaming,
chasing our salt-flaked legs.

Come back, it called.
We stumbled away, blinded by the softening darkness.

From behind windows,
we gazed out:
the moon rising like a tributary halo.

"Song for the New Year"

The trees lean in.
The last of the autumn leaves rustle.

The wind crinkles
and stirs the basket in your hands.

Today, you are here,
in the crisp cusp of morning,
shivering.

Somewhere, a teacher erases a blackboard.
A student erases an answer.
You drag your soles across patterns in the mud.
Erasure, closure,
beginning.

You reach into your ocean heart
and pull out promises,
words smooth and rough, tall and small.

Today we learn resilience,
purpose, faith, strength.
Chance, forgiveness, possibility.

You close your eyes.
The sky broadens and lightens.
The market opens its doors.

The lights flick on like tongues
lapping at your heels.

Forward.