READ--LOOK--WRITE! 13

READ
One Art
The art of losing isn't hard to master; 

so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster,

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

- Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster. 

Elizabeth Bishop

LOOK

Do you feel down in the dumps, or perhaps spy that creepy self-loathing coming on?  Just watch this.  I swear, it clears the cobwebs.




WRITE!

Lonely comes the night.
My skin is dry.
I have not spied rain
since a long time ago.

This room is heavy;
dark and shuddered.
I wish it would rain
so I could grow.

I was born to
pound the sky,
and steam up the earth,
But no matter.  I will find water here.

READ--LOOK--WRITE! 12

READ


ANYWAY

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

--Mother Theresa





LOOK

It helps me, when dealing with feelings of anger and shame, to turn my gaze to how good I have it.  How incredibly lucky I have been throughout my life.  When struggling with hard feelings (first-world problems, as I like to call them), any sense of perspective helps.  This photo series did just that for me.  Oh, what a crazed, mad, beautiful world!  Children and their possession's




WRITE!


When rain comes,
plant your feet.
Those little seeds will grow.
Just as life;
kicking down your door.