#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream

Charlie and Suzi get roughed up by Luke

. . . My mama said that if I became a poet or a teacher, I’d make nothing, but 
I’ve thrown words like rocks and hit something in a room when I aimed 
for a window. One student says when he writes, it feels 
like nothing can stop him, and his laughter unlocks a door. He invites me 
into his living.

Excerpt from “Nothing,” by Krysten Hill, featured today in Poem A Day at Poets.org

We have a bluebird in our yard. A bluebird of happiness, whisking in and out of the red maple. I have changed my morning routine this week, to do a morning ritual with my friend: I run, a jog really, to her dock by 7:00. The birds are rowdy around us but the pond is sheet glass. Charlie fishes. I stretch and meditate; she does a breathing routine and writes. Then I swim around the island, walk home through the woods. I’m feeling great. But I was tired this afternoon; fell into a nap while revising one of the poems from letters and woke up groggy and unrefreshed. I put away all the groceries, delivered, and prepped for dinner, frustrated that I had not gotten more writing done. But my daughter asked for a walk, so I went out with her in the late afternoon for a short one. We talked about meeting Luke! My son brought his new dog for his first visit this morning in the bright sunshine to meet Charlie and Suzi. Well, this wonderful puppy, a twelve week old rescue from Texas, gave Charlie and Suzi a pretty decent workout. We took him to the river and the brook and he got most of his body wet. He blackened his feet in the brook mud then jumped all over poor Suzi’s back, leaving black footprints. She napped for three hours after this meeting. Luke will take some getting used to, her sweet face told us. Then, after dinner, I surprised myself, coming out of a foggy head, and revised a poem in time to bring it to my workshop with my poetry pals from Mississippi and Texas, Randy and Marlon. What a wonderful session we had sharing poems. And they really helped me resolve the conflict I was having about this poem; my doubts are resolved. I feel free to own it completely. We are so glad to have Luke in our family, sprinting across the meadow, being young and full of frisk and romp.