“Advance!” I shouted
That **** monkey wouldn’t budge, not even to look me in the eye

“Insolent decrepit brat!Advance!”

Still that monkey did nothing

“Advance, I say! Do you hear me? Advance!”

“No.” said the monkey

“No?” I asked incredulously

“No.”

“And why not?” I demanded

“Because” said the monkey “you did not say please.”

No matter if our heads
Are tipped left or right
Or whether you’re examined
During the day or the night
There sits you, our dusty debris
Remnants of decisions made much to hastily

Consequential Residue

There you are but what to do?
Do we approach from the front?
Or approach from the rear?
But what if we capture you?
What then should we do?

Do you have a sense of humour?
Can we laugh you away?
Or are you pious and proper
And require that we pray?
Or do you require more effort than even of that
Of the continual sweeping of your creepage back under our mats

Should we bag and tag?
Or toss off the bridge?
Should we mount your head?
Or stick you to the door of our fridge?
It is just so very much to decide

**Whether to display ... or whether to hide

She was still trying to figure out  "expectation".

When getting up in the morning she expected things;  a floor under her feet,  loved ones looking relatively the same as they did the night before, the car starting, etc, etc, etc. And the fact they continued to happen encourages expectation.

Expectation has a dark side though, and she had been bitten by expectations she'd placed on others that had not been met,  and she'd experienced hurt and shame at the not being able to meet other's expectations of her and her own unrealistic expectations she placed upon herself and had been crushed under.

But she wondered, "What if expectations are direct natural by-products of our chosen daily routines? Simply those ways of being we all have, created from options presented and found, and from preferences and passions explored and simply require that we be mindful that we do not crush others or find ourselves crushed under the weight of the unrealized.

What if it's also consciously making the shift from impatiently waiting for the appearance of a Happily Ever After, to rolling up sleeves, digging in and getting busy with the messy process of creating her own Happiness After.

I have to say that I love life
I love walking outside and drinking in the seasons
Smelling the scents indigenous to our island
Even with my eyes closed I can know I'm home

Catching up with friendly faces
All of nature mixing and mingling
A cacophony of natural rhythms
That dance off  breath and pound from chests

The sound of  each snowy step taken reminds
That there is hope for tomorrow
That there is hope for today
That there is hope for yesterday

Purpose filled living that grows deeper and stronger
Grabbing life by the hips and drinking thirstily from her mouth
Striding wholly into the stratum of a living, feeling, breathing being
Thrusting into the wonder that is yesterday, today and tomorrow

I have to say that I love life

When I walk down to the shore and it rises to greet me

I get caught up in those moments
Those moments when we both grow in size and grandeur
Just from the knowing of one another

The recognition
The reclaiming
The owning

And as I undress and expose hidden places
It crashes at my feet and reveals undercurrent treasures

The words were not there
But something was stirring deep within
Insanity or brilliance, perhaps both
Understanding the fullness of its urgency has never come

I put pen to paper and wrote anyhow

I wrote what I saw within
Heaven and Earth
Unlaced and dancing
Beating upon internal drums ... I could barely hear

I put pen to paper and wrote anyhow

And though I am sure of very little
I am certain of one thing
That you and I, are pieces of all of this
This primal dance of Heaven and Earth

*So I put my pen to paper and I write anyhow