Why stop your own joy from unfolding?

~ Mary Ruefle

In the middle of the night when I woke up, I saw a text on my phone from my friend Jenny from my Monday night poetry. Letting me know she wanted to follow up on some feedback on my poem that unfolded in our Monday night workshop. That was a welcome offer. She knew I would want to talk over the feedback I’d received from one member. Charlie was once again disappointed when I woke early and set off on my bike. I rode a longer way this morning to my friend’s dock, down lush and verdant summer streets and very little traffic. Once again, there were three of us. Like summer camp, I thought, as we stretched and meditated and swam. The rain held off. I rode straight home and walked Charlie to the river. I spent a lot of time on the phone today. As I prepared for a meeting on Zoom I was delighted to see my dear friend Jeanne was calling, out of the blue, from North Carolina, to tell me she’s coming to visit the area in August. We will be able to spend time together in person, we hope. And I called Jenny and we talked and talked about poetry, and she listened to me talk through aspect of my poems and letters project, and this was so helpful, to feel understood, and I spent a good amount of time in the late afternoon working on the letters, and listening to a talk by the inspirational erasure poet, Mary Ruefle, who also said something I really needed and wanted to hear, to keep going at my project: “Why stop your joy from unfolding?”