Day: February 2, 2015

Devoted two…

It must be said that I love my family with a fierce love I never experienced before having a spouse and children. That kind of love is amazing. But, although different, no less amazing is the love of one who devotes herself to you. She found me, after our greyhound died. After each animal dies I tell myself I cannot lose my heart to another. Yet I do, repeatedly, & in multiples. I love and have loved them all.

She needed a home. She tried to run the first day. Based on her history, it was understandable. Raised in a puppy mill she was three when we received her and had delivered three litters of pups in those years. She had three teeth, and lost them about three years after joining our family. Three seemed to be her number. Actually, it was one. 

I belong to her. She makes me want to be the kind of person she seems to think I am, even if/when I’m not that person. She sits with me or waits by my side of the bed if I’m not home. She follows me or looks for me if I’ve left the room longer than her standard allows. She is resting in my lap as I write this. She loves coming to work with me, playing high 5 and peek a boo.

Family members are frustrated by her single-mindedness. Her protective growl can be alarming and disarming (she weighs 5 pounds.) I admire that she is who she is and makes no apology for anything. She will chase away anyone or anything that gets in the way of her devotion or our togetherness. I’ve no idea why, of all of us she chose me. To me, she is one of life’s most unexpected blessings.  Thanks be.

 

Welcome to my world

Words inform us. They tell us who someone is and why we might want to know them. Words also clutter our daily landscape. I’m interested in the economy of language and in trying to say what I observe in a small scaled way. I’m a person who writes as a function of my work. I love mystery and spirituality; also a function of my work. I’m a month late in beginning my blog, based on my resolution this year and I’ve got a project in mind to write small verse everyday. Depending on how that goes I may add some visual projects, too.

Here it is February first and I’ve started small. I plan to write each day, until roughly the end of January, 2016. Basho and other writers of Haiku have interested me since high school.  I’m also interested in the writing form of Tanka which I understand to be a precursor of Haiku. Tanka are similar in Haiku form of five syllable line then a seven syllable line and then a five syllable line, but Tanka add two seven syllable lines.at the end. Often they are a reflection or clarification of the first three lines.  I’m interested in other forms of Japanese poetry, and may chose  to write in some of them as well. If you are unfamiliar with these forms, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waka_(poetry), here is an introduction.

I’ve debated doing this in a journal or in blog form, and although I’m enthusiastic about this blog, like many new bloggers (I think) a bit nervous to put my writing out to the world. My hope is that writing “small” will interest people to read for a few moments a day.  I hope to offer some small gift of my own creation to my readers.  A goal of this project is that in writing small verse I can become more proficient at composing thoughts and saying with clarity what is in on my mind and in my heart.