Poem for Thursday

Around Us
By Marvin Bell

We need some pines to assuage the darkness
when it blankets the mind,
we need a silvery stream that banks as smoothly
as a plane's wing, and a worn bed of
needles to pad the rumble that fills the mind,
and a blur or two of a wild thing
that sees and is not seen. We need these things
between appointments, after work,
and, if we keep them, then someone someday,
lying down after a walk
and supper, with the fire hole wet down,
the whole night sky set at a particular
time, without numbers or hours, will cause
a little sound of thanks--a zipper or a snap--
to close round the moment and the thought
of whatever good we did.

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Things For Which I Am Thankful:
1. My family, reasonably healthy, reasonably happy, enjoying one another's company.
2. My friends, particularly those (and you know who you are if you're online) who have really been there for me recently.
3. My pets, which bring me joy and comfort that I sometimes take for granted.
4. Not having to work outrageous hours or in unpleasant conditions for the sake of money.
5. All the people who seem to have had a political awakening as a result of this election. I'm optimistic that it will lead to positive change.
6. Shared reality -- popular entertainment, fandom, fan fiction. I love being able to connect with people like that.
7. Friendships that grow out of shared realities and become so much more, that uplift and challenge and change me.
8. This is one hell of a beautiful planet. I must remember to do more, personally, to keep it clean and safe and protected from those who keep exploiting it.
9. Cable and wireless technology. I love the internet; every time I look something up on Google or Bartleby or the IMDb or the IPL, I remember my fantasy of Star Trek's library computer being a reality in my lifetime, and we're moving that way. I dreamed of having a communicator like Captain Kirk's, and our wireless technology is moving ever closer to letting us affordably talk in real time, with images, to people on the other side of the world. I dreamed in my childhood of having friends all over the world, without really expecting it to be a reality, and here all of you are.
10. Progress is slow and fitful, but it's moving forward. RU-486 is so controversial because it works. Gay marriage is so contentious because it's actually happening. Elections are stolen because the would-be rulers realize how tenuous their hold is on power. Some of these things are only within our control if we work and work at them, but that's a hell of a lot better than feeling useless. I feel much less useless now than I did a few weeks ago.

I wrote two for : "Worst Fear" and "Unfiltered", both for the red-and-green challenge. Keep in mind that I'm Jewish and these colors do not particularly signify winter holidays to me!


Something else I am thankful for -- the Atlantic Ocean.