October 19, 2021

 YOU’RE  TOO  LOUD

 
You’re too loud for me.
 
So I can’t hear you.
 
Sorry.
 
You’re so much more than what you’re saying.

I think you have to figure all that out.
 
Sorry.
 
Maybe when you hear yourself out….
 
I’ll hear you.
 
I don’t want to judge. I just want to be elsewhere.
 
Sorry.
 
Someday….
 
Maybe.
 
I hope.
 
So ….
 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2021

 October    19,  2021

 

Thought for the Day

“In youth poems come to you out of the blue.  They’re delivered at your doorstep like the morning news.  But at this age,  one has to dig.” 

Stanley  Kunitz,

The New York Times,

November 30,  1995

 October  18,  2021

FIGURING  IT ALL  OUT

 

 

Stories help us figure it out!

 

We all have  2 or 3 stories that

help us explain to ourselves how

we got to where we got to – so far.

 

To get them takes time – jotting

down or naming 7 stories for starters,

then narrowing them down to 2 or 3.

 

Listen to graduation talks – helps.

You can find them at graduation time

in the newspapers or on line.

 

Then write down your 2 or 3 stories

and find an audience – and notice

any reactions to your stories.

 

Stories can help us figure it all out. 

 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2021

October    18,  2021

 

 

Thought for the Day

 

“Unity is the dream of every poem,  large or small.  Does each word carry, embryonically, the intent of the entire poem?”

 

Dave Smith, 

Local Assays, 1985

October 17, 2021

HEAVEN AND HELL

 

People appear on Oprah
and talk shows and tell about
near death experiences.
 
I wonder where viewers go
when they hear about these
misty and twisting experiences.
 
Have we ever thought about gathering

our heaven and hell experiences
that come through our black night windows?

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2021

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October    17,  2021

 

Thought for the Day

 

“Most people don’t believe in heaven,  but everybody wants to go there, right? Now there’s a topic for a poet.”

 

David Kirby,

storySouth, 2003

October 16, 2021

LEAN

 

I like to lean against trees
and feel its wood in my back –
if for just a few minutes.
 
The back of benches in church
work just as well – a chance to
stretch back into the hard of wood.
 
Support, rest, a chance
for a break, to just be me -
a leaning into a solid something. 

But sometimes this happens
when I’m on a cross - when pain – or
a glimpse of death is pushing into me.

  

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2021