Box Wine, Succulents, and Bus Stops
Accept what life offers you and try to drink from every cup. All wines should be tasted; some should only be sipped, but with others, drink the whole bottle.
― Paulo Coelho
We were the ones who brought the box of red wine to the party in Napa around the corner from the old Victorian house that had been split into apartments where we lived in a tiny studio and had recently met a new friend who invited us to the party and would accidentally inspire us to move to Alaska one afternoon talking about flight schools with my brother but while we were at the party where we brought a three-liter box of wine from Target a man introduced himself as a past-life regression therapist and well that got me thinking and then many how many years later did my friend who owns the succulent shop on State Street asked the question in an Instagram post of all places and I was flooded with emotion and memory and poetry from somewhere inside of me that I feel but don’t know and ended up writing a poem with overt metaphor and lines but very much trying to feel like one of the poems of Charles Simic even though I prefer nuanced metaphor and stream of consciousness because these seem to bring me into the poem and person who wrote the poem but sometimes things come out of us that we don’t fully understand so this poem is for the me before me:
How Many Stops?
“Do you ever wonder
about past lives,” she asked
to no one in particular?
Seems I can’t get away
from them—somehow
together on this same bus—
The woman with a cat
hiding in her oversized purse
always on the way to her mother’s funeral.
The man in striped overalls
clutching an empty toolbox in his lap
refuses to move over for anyone.
The child holding a teddy bear
missing its eyes and only one ear
looks out the window and goes forth every day.
The driver in his pressed blue uniform
let’s us off one by one
each surprised to recognize when it’s our stop.
..
These things too inspired me recently:
On the constitutionality of wearing masks - I’ve been wondering and J found this perspective from Columbia University law school.
Ask these 5 questions to be more interesting - Fully vaccinated and trying to remember how to talk with people face to face and maybe meet new friends along the way.
James Baldwin and Ernest Hemingway on making better sentences for those inclined to write prose. The Hemingway advice is great for writing professional emails too: “Don’t use more words than are necessary. Make your point and move on…”
How to make unbreakable resolutions - There are things I love about pandemic life at home, healthy habits I’ve found, I really want to keep these.
Everything in the End - We really enjoyed this indie film by Mylissa Fitzsimmons that’s making its way through the festivals. You can watch online through May 19 for $10. The film was shot in Iceland so the locations alone are stunning but the writing...I’ve seen a short film by Fitzsimmons too...so, so good.