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uv Mar 26
Reaching out for great things
Even when they are far
Your hands might be small
But your mind has no bar

Seeking out rare things
May be bright as a star
Your eyes may be keen
But it might be better afar.
Reaching out for great things, even when they seem distant. Despite physical limitations, the mind knows no bounds. Sometimes, the pursuit of greatness is best admired from afar.
Shley Mar 25
I never could've known the life we'd have
When we were young and drunk on discovery.

When you walked into my life like light flooding a room,
I never could've imagined what we'd build together.

As I hold the children you gave me in my arms,
The culmination of our intertwined hearts,
I feel so rich and full and satisfied.

I didn't know then, but I know now, just how beautiful it is to open your heart to another.
Anais Vionet Mar 24
I babysit the daughter (Ivy) of a doctor at the hospital where I volunteer (to accumulate ‘clinical hours’ for my med-school applications). According to my mom, the purpose of my current existence is to get into med school.

That may sound crazy or theater-mom-ish but she has strong arguments - like Aristotle (all things strive toward full potential), stoicism (there’s a role for all living things) and vitalism (there’s a purpose, in life, beyond survival) - so, who am I to argue?

Straight brag, I’m a certified, Girl Scout Safe-Sitter®. Little Ivy and I will be eye to eye (metaphorically) for three hours today - no phones, TV or Internet - just paints, swings, barbies, a Montessori math game and a new toy called “MyFirst camera” which lets her take pix, and then print them, low-res and smeary, on ultra-thin paper.

I met Ivy when she was 4, now she’s on the edge of 6. She’s got large chestnut brown eyes that match her hair - which is cut in a shoulder length angled-bob. She’s about 3½-feet of cuteness, in her pink ballet-flat shoes. I’d describe her clothes, but she changes about every hour. “What are you wearing now?” I find myself asking the princess or jedi. “Can I help you officer?” I ask the business-like cop in a ballet tutu.
We’re old hats at this babysitting gig.

When Ivy picked up her camera, I asked, “Can I take your picture?” reaching out to take the thing.
“In a minute,” she said, lining me up in the viewfinder. “No,” she said, suddenly turning into a photographer highly critical of my look, “(pose) Like a model,” she directed, before striking, for a brief moment, a perfect, indifferent, hands-on hips pose herself. Kids pick up on everything. I took her direction and struck a pose.

Later, as we painted dragons that looked like flowers, she asked, “Why’s the sky blue?”
When Ivy asks questions, it’s like she’s getting a second opinion or testing to see what I know.
“Blue?” I asked, acting like I was confused. “The sky is GREEN.”
“NNOOO,” she said.
“You’re colorblind!” I exclaimed in alarm, “Does your mom know?!
“The sky is BLUE,” she said, with the seriousness of certainty.
“We’ll see,” I said, like a doubting thomas.
I held up five fingers, “How many colors am I holding up?”  
She looked at me, side-eyed for less than a beat, then said “No.”
We had hours of fun.

Later, when her mom came home, she asked “How’s it going guys?” As she set down her purse and keys.
Ivy looked up from her work, gluing a collage of the day's photos to poster board and said, “Ok.”
“We had fun,” I reported, “I’ve been teaching her some comedy things.”
“Like what?” her mom asked, nonplussed.
Ivy eyed me suspiciously.
“Like when she falls, she should wait for the laugh. She can’t just - hop right up.”
straight brag = shameless self-promotion
Charlie Harman Oct 2023
Clumsily, cluelessly, capriciously;
Varying walks of life, and such varied
ways of walking. Crawling and or quickly-
they advance through the concrete corridors.

~Completely unaware of the outside world
or anything other than themselves, for that matter.~

The issue lies in the wanting of more.
I've not much left to give and I'm sickly
'cause everybody's got their friends-big leagues.
From me to you, its not simple. Like harried
marriage; marred and probably charred, but

this is war-
~extra judiciously~
Sigh, I'll add more to this at some point, but I think its pretty alright how it is (for now).
Remember when…..
Barefoot running on a blacktop street
Lazy days
Summer heat
Swimming pools
summer vacation
There is no school
12 years old
To be again
One more time till the summer ends
Sharon Talbot Jun 2023
California Kids

I’ll call you up on Saturday
And invite you over.
Take the 101, 110 and 1;
(Sounds like an equation!)
And you’re there.
Just use your GPS..
There’ll be a party at my house,
Daft Punk playing on the Echo.
It’ll be epic, Echoic!
With some vintage’ tunes,
Crankin’ the Beach Boys,
Watching surfers
Shredding out-the-back,
Past prowling sharks in the shallows.
Lets go to the dunes and maybe kiss.
I know that you miss me,
So don’t ask me why
And when you come,
I won’t ask
“What are you doing here?”
We’ll eat fish tacos,
Guacamole, Pico de Gallo
And drink margaritas
While we debate French new wave,
I’ll praise Truffaut while you
Tell me that Scorsese is the man.
When we get drunk enough
I will suggest a walk
Along the iridescent surf.
You should say yes because
I’m safe now that I drive electric,
That I turned vegan
(sorry about the fish)
and wear cruelty-free clothes.
I don’t grill snapper anymore
And take my shoes off inside the door.
Maybe we’ll make it to Tower 28,
Lay down and watch the full moon
Like Jim Morrison did to write.
I’ll tell you I’m glad you’re alive—
I’m no poet, but you know that.
This was inspired by the joyous, freewheeling song by Weezer and the SNL skit about the Californians. I sort of envy them!
Much love eternally yours
E,BR,JM, Much Love
Mother BBA/ASG/AA
choose friends wisely
Your enemies are not above the law
Free yourselves.

https://youtu.be/h1mRkzTOuzk
~~
Psalm 109.
Na myo ** tenge Kyo.
~~
https://youtu.be/h1mRkzTOuzk
Ken Pepiton Mar 2023
Magic tears, any time,
anytime an old man can share, some
subtle sense that the kids are alright,

life makes sense, over a span,
of three generations, over lapping,
-mindtimespace pre-excavated
bubbles of happy old men
center the evolving sequence
sheltering open minds and soft hearts
being there, inbetween what's coming down
stirring quantum foam
into active magic surficant

applied with sticky gnosisnot
as hot tar on a roof, or thatching,
all in steady ready peace,
occurrence-easy, expanding
at will, becoming as aha at once
as all zeitgeist guests do,
pop
a grand parent bubble, winking
at each,
defined as one of a kind,
no two alike, and, as a matter of fact,
making your heaven
on earth like mine

would cost you the hell I paid, and
there's no need, things, we agree,

you, dear reader, and I, a we, of some
notion once given thought to float on,

after taking a famous great notion,
to jump in the ocean and drown, done

and proceeding to drown, down, down
I lived
to tell, I decided
climbing out from
depths of angst, actual wrong thinking,
twisted proverbs, and jokes with no story.

Nuns or skunks… what's black and
white, and black and white, and
black, and white…. rolling down a hill,

or it could be cop suvs, too.
Right,
Or a yen yank thang. right.
- the route from the bus stop
- blind milk horse, what did you say?

I was paying no attention,
then smallest, though not youngest,
granddaughter finishes,

Magic tears, are when you see
another person cry, and you cry, too.

Grandpa said, yeah, that's a gift,
like a subtle super power.

She said, yes, she knows.
Another sappy grandpa echo from the ride up from the bus stop on a kinda dreeary day.
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