Tally the Breath of Tranquility

Week 34

Tally the Breath of Tranquility

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            1.   How can I ponder the depth of the obvious; I’m so busy

                  looking past it?

            2.   “Glance around slowly” is the advice of a dear friend,

                  and I know he’s right. It’s a practice I work at.

            3.   I want to get into the joy of it, realizing delight in the

                  ordinary; feeling the absolute rhythm of the simple.

            4.   The predictability gives us comfort while the absence or

                  delay is a missing note in a tune we know well.

            5.   Maybe I should just hit “Like” as in Facebook to start the

                  tally. Is that so silly?

            6.   Right now, I kid you not, a hansom cab with tourists

                  passes my open window—horse goes dippa-dop,

                  dippa-dop, dippa a-dop.

            7.   Let’s agree, isn’t that the unexpected now? Welcome

                  home!

Comfort

beat of the drum,

beat of the heart,

door opening, closing,

escalator clicks

at the top,

crow’s early

caw, caw, caw,

ax in its chop,

hammer pounding,

cars passing

by your window,

ringing phone,

leaping flames

in the fireplace,

waves washing

up on shore,

steps taken to arrive,

stroke of the saw,

sizzle in the fry pan,

pats to the dog,

pours to the

coffee cup,

airplanes taking off,

commuter trains

coming in,

flashes of the

turn signal,

quarter hour peal

from the bell tower,

pulling back

the bed covers,

Hi! to your colleague,

kiss for your lover

© 2012 Allan Cox, Allan Cox & Associates Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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What You See Is Not What You Get

Week 33

What You See Is Not What You Get

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            1.   I Frequently refer to breakthroughs as ooze-throughs. There’s a slow

                  step-by-step process to most payoffs.

            2.   Mid-size steps, big steps and small ones all go into the 

                  arrival at a desired destination.

            3.   Often, too, even when completely desirable, the end of the destination is

                  not what was previously envisioned.

            4.   Dark and light complement each other; same as fast and

                  slow, high and low, hard and soft.

            5.   A poem appearing sluggish among others may take you

                  where you need to be as a receptor of new sights, sounds

                  or feelings.

            6.   The so-called fallow time in the project may provide for

                  re-evaluation previously rejected, and options that now

                  shine.

            7.   Walk with wide wings that sweep and gather as you cross

                  over the ground.

Steady

I, the poem,

am him.

Today, I want

to speak for him

in a sole way.

Right out, I speak

as a poem

among my many

selves, his selves.

My heart

has been hurt

when the reader says

there are some

really good poems

in this book,

meaning this self

of me—

the one among

many—

is thought

for less.

I, the sole poem,

distinct but

not glistening,

am a carrier,

mellow in spirit,

keeping the flow

until one of me

on another page

appears as

a flash.

Let’s remember

that’s your flash.

I am one of many.

I take you up.

I bring you down.

© 2012 Allan Cox, Allan Cox & Associates Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Keep the Idea at Bay

Week 32

Keep the Idea at Bay

Tweets

            1.   I’ve found that it’s easy to claim knowledge for myself

                  that I don’t truly have.

            2.   To expose this falsehood, all I have to do is try to

                  explain it to someone and find I’m all thumbs.

            3.   It’s hard for some of us to say, “I don’t know.”

            4.   Oddly, though, I can say I don’t know, start to talk

                  about a subject and find I’m fluent and in command of  

                  it.

            5.   You too? Try declaring yourself in a neutral zone—one of

                  not knowing---with the likelihood of learning before you.

            6.   By simply suspending, naming and holding an idea at

                  bay, we give ourselves space and time to get friendly

                  with it.

            7.   When you’re friendly, it’s much easier to be at home with

                  that idea.

Suspending

What don’t

I know

that I

claim to know?

What an

intimidating

task!

My body

is limp

or is it

tense?

Right now

I don’t know.

But I’ll

suspend

and notice:

it’s on alert—

neither limp

nor tense—

wanting

to know.

It was

at least

easier then—

a better thought,

even—

not claiming

to know.

© 2012 Allan Cox, Allan Cox & Associates Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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When the Seemingly Insignificant Isn’t

Week 31

When the Seemingly Insignificant Isn’t

Tweets

            1.   The seasonality of a happening—any event that means a

                  great deal to you—may not conform to the calendar.

            2.   Nor is it necessarily of the same length or intensity when

                  it repeats.

            3.   Such it is with a photo in our bedroom, that has its

                  special moment—not just once but periodically.

            4.   See it below, three husbands. Along with our wives,  

                  we’ve just completed a five-day safari in Kenya.

            5.   We’re in a lodge bar, waiting to be taken to the small

                  airport from which we’ll fly for two hours to the Seychelle

                  Islands.

            6.   I’m the one standing, giggling, 15 years ago or more. I’ve

                  just shared a “male secret” with our wives that make mis

                  amigos groan.

            7.   A bond confirmed, a mock betrayal forgiven, something

                  special that makes life sing, never to be forgotten. It’s

                  how things can be.

Photo

That photo, nothing

special, sits idly

in a collection

over there

on the dresser,

often not seen,

and seen past.

Yet some mornings,

it’s one of the first

things I take in—clearly,

forcefully, in its soft

warm leather frame,

wearing well and

asserting itself

appropriately.

The phone rings;

out the window,

a day gray as wool,

a call that matters to me.

As I stand and talk

and turn, looking,

the photo

looks me back,

and I remember.

© 2012 Allan Cox, Allan Cox & Associates Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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