Sunday, August 26, 2012

Tally the Breath of Tranquility



Week 34



Tally the Breath of Tranquility

Tweets


            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.
___________________________________________________




Labels: , ,

Sunday, August 19, 2012

What You See Is Not What You Get


Week 33

What You See Is Not What You Get

Tweets


            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.
____________________________________________________



Labels: , ,

Sunday, August 12, 2012

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.
____________________________________________________



Labels: , ,

Sunday, August 5, 2012

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.
___________________________________________________




Labels: , ,

Find me at Starbucks

Allan Cox Word Art