#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream

Step out and breathe in the fog
that smudges this summer morning.
Touch the hot-pink petals
of echinacea studded with droplets
each of which contains whole planets
you will never set foot on.
Know that you also hold many worlds
unseen inside you. . .

~Excerpt from “You Belong,” by James Crews

Departure day. I must uproot myself from the Charles River. I will cross the Connecticut and the Hudson Rivers to the Catskills. I skip my morning swim; Perri goes off without me. I trust I will find some time for my swim. I have to work on a poem, pack, water the plants inside and out, laundry, wash, fold, put away, and bills etc. etc. etc. And it’s so sunny and hot and delicious outside. This trip will be worth it. Picking up my friend from the Albany airport. Getting to the IWWG Retreat in Kingston, New York. A day early. I don’t teach until Tuesday. Everyone arrives tomorrow afternoon. I finally get in the car determined to have a swim, no matter how long. I pack my clothes to change into and my lunch and I’m off. And I get a twelve minute swim in the bright sun because I don’t want to leave without having my time in the water of Farm Pond. This twelve minutes counts for a lot. I change in the parking lot, refreshed and enthusiastic, and start my journey. It’s seamless. I meet Laura at the airport. She’s been flying all day from San Diego. Our brains are mush but our talk, somehow, is not. A nice dinner in this small town that looks a bit like a set for a Western. Welcome to the Catskills. I’m glad to be here.