Canadian smoke, conference chatter, a need for rain...




I slept in until 6:30 this morning; clearly, I needed the rest. The Poetry Seminar is keeping my brain busy, but not in the same way as the APSI (thankfully). During that conference, all I could seem to focus on was what I needed to do, what I hadn't been doing, and how hard it was going to be. This week, I feel possibilities blooming and a deep appreciation for the creative work others are doing. I don't feel swallowed by deficit, and that's more what I want out of a week's worth of sitting and learning. 

That said, it's still braining, and my eyes are burning from too much screen time and the Canadian smoke plume that has blanketed the northeast. I hope today brings some rain to wash this  gloom and pollution away. 

I wish there were something to wash away the larger sense of gloom and pollution-- the news cycle is filled with vengeance and misery, ignorance and hate, and real threats to our physical, emotional, financial, and spiritual safety. RFK Jr. is said to be cutting funding for research into respiratory disease vaccines, now. Great. As an asthmatic who works in a germ pool, that really makes me feel healthy and safe. ugh. The list goes on, and I won't recount it: suffice it to say, the barren wasteland and hard concrete of what used to be a lovely garden at the White House is a perfect metaphor for what we are fast becoming. It's fitting that the drains are in the shape of the flag. It's heartbreaking. 

That all said, I will "escape" to my poetry world for a bit today, and that is at least a break in the miasma. If it does not rain today, we will be watering the gardens. And we need to-- the tomatoes are ramping up to full tilt (we have so many already!), the beans are poking along but there are some, anyhow, and the squash will need the water. Lots of it. We need more rain for the apples and pears, too-- the fruits all look a little small to me. It's odd, after such a wet spring. 

I hope your day is fruitful in all the ways that matter.

C

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