Showing posts with label Pat Schneider. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pat Schneider. Show all posts

Friday, June 2, 2023

the self you leave behind

 
 
 
 

 
 
The self you leave behind
is only a skin you have outgrown.
 
Don't grieve for it.
Look to the wet, raw, unfinished
self, the one you are becoming.
The world, too, sheds its skin:
politicians, cataclysms, ordinary days.
 
It's easy to lose this tenderly
unfolding moment. Look for it
as if it were the first green blade
after a long winter. Listen for it
as if it were the first clear tone
in a place where dawn is heralded by bells.

And if all that fails,

wash your own dishes.
Rinse them.
Stand in your kitchen at your sink.
Let cold water run between your fingers.
Feel it.
 
 
 
 
 ~  Pat Schneider
 from  Olive Street Transfer
with thanks to Poetry Chaikhana