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Passport
The First breath is wet, stunned. A moment between warm and cocooned, to harsh, white and cold. I’ve been there, a traveller in other lands, gifted with moments only moments where I can visit another land. I can’t live there, it’s not my place now. I pass the new life to grateful arms, always overwhelmed…
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My Love
I had a glimpse twenty years ago, And it felt so real that the tears rolled down my cheeks the morning after. The dream had been a moment of realism, Of love so wide that I had known in that instant that somewhere was a person Just for me. I never saw his face, but…
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The death of a fighter
Two deep gasping breaths, then stopped as I entered the room. The woman sitting by his bedside turned to me and with anguish said, “There, he just stopped. He just took his last breath.” The grandfather wall clock rang out 1030 all in sequence and I felt his soul rush by my left ear as…
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Memory work
I often wonder what is happening inside the head of the person sitting across from me at work. What synapses are firing, what chemicals are coursing through dendrites, sparking changes along the route. I remember learning about the process vaguely, in the old familiar yet forgotten way that applies to theorems in math class in grade…
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Declutter
Spring is here in the air and the pussywillows we see every day on the way to my child’s school. The wind has been up intermittently, and each time it takes my breath or throws grit in my eyes it reminds me it’s time for change. Spring is the time of year when natures brushes…
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Butterflies
They tickle somewhere up near my throat, swarming in what I’m sure must be a beautiful pattern of drawn out o’s. I feel my stomach lurch, not enjoying the tickle of the wings as they brush by my heart, sending adrenaline coursing through. I take several long and slow breaths, trying to count to ten.…
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Apple of my eye
I used to worry when I was a kid that if I ate the apple seeds from my apple at lunch, I would grow apples from my arms. I pictured myself, going outside in the spring, feeling my arms erupting in pain from hundreds of little places where branches would sprout out, questing towards the…
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Rain
The car moved through traffic, following the line of vehicles moving through the downtown. The rain fell slowly, creating rivulets down the window as I watched the buildings as we passed.I’ve always loved the rain. Watching it come from the sky and clean the earth. Dancing in it When I was small we were the…
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Futility
Gasping for breath Struggling for one more minute Like a fish on the sandy beach, trying to swim out of their element When is it too much? When is the moment where you sigh and let go? Breath leaving silently through lips now relaxed. Sight turning up, stars visible through the ceiling as consciousness expands…
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Accident of birth
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how factors influence people. Things we don’t think about often, like birth order, or if you had a pet. The experiences we have in childhood continue to shape us throughout our lives, whether we acknowledge them or not. For some people, this is a horrible injustice. They have…