Ordinary Days

Do not ask your children
to strive for extraordinary lives.
Such striving may seem admirable,

but it is a way of foolishness.

Help them instead to find the wonder
and the marvel of an ordinary life.
Show them the joy of tasting
tomatoes, apples and pears.

Show them how to cry
when pets and people die.
Show them the infinite pleasure
in the touch of a hand.

And make the ordinary come alive for them.
The extraordinary will take care of itself.

The Strangest Person

“I used to think I was 

the strangest person in the world

but then I thought there are 

so many people in the world, 

there must be someone just like me 

who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do. 

I would imagine her, and imagine 

that she must be out there thinking of me too. 

Well, I hope that if you are out there 

and read this and know that, 

yes, it's true I'm here, 

and I'm just as strange as you.”

The New Dog

Into the gravity of my life, 

the serious ceremonies 

of polish and paper 

and pen, has come 

this manic animal 

whose innocent disruptions 

make nonsense 

of my old simplicities-- 

as if I needed him 

to prove again that after 

all the careful planning, 

anything can happen.