May 9, 2020. COVID-19 makes for odd times, the new normal ever evolving. I feel my sense of time (days, hours) slipping further and further from the forefront of thoughts and actions. I’ve begun putting routine tasks on my calendar, but then I forget to open it, and oops! Two days late dosing the pets with monthly heart-worm preventive. This poem was written in those hours that challenge my dating the page: is it still yesterday or already tomorrow? I had great fun creating the collage, though difficult to choose which of the 40 photos taken of our first 2020 echinopsis cactus bloom. So many petals, so many angles, so intriguing to steadily observe, wishing I could slip between petals for a snooze.
stepsandpauses 
I love your last line. “So much stirring within what appears idle.” This is a strange time, but not wasted time. 😊
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Kelly, thank you … disruption of patterns loosens the belt, lets us grow in new ways. We are such creatures of habit!
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I loved the poem and the collage. I am also finding myself unsure of what day it is and feeling time as flow without name.
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Thanks, Sarah – “time as flow without name” nails it.
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Such a delight, this poem! Big smile re the collage (that foot!!) One of your best, Jazz!
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Lynne, that foot sent me into a giggles spasm on encounter, and I ran for the phone to grab a picture. Might should’ve taken a video – he told me later the Grateful Dead were coming through his headphones – so those are grateful toes.
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Love the collage images! I can really identify with the ignoring the calendar and the crazy sleep hours. I like what you said in your intro about wanting to slip between the petals for a snooze. My favorite line in the poem is “Nature Nurtures Curious Patience.”
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Thank you, Betty – I am practicing patience actively during this stretch! Patience with others’ impatience and finger-pointing is the challenge. The cactus was a reprieve, a welcoming into inner patience with myself and necessary waiting-to-discover whatever’s coming.
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“Abandoning all else to sit with cactus / opening first 2020 bloom…” is the poet’s necessary work, never to be thwarted, pandemic notwithstanding. Happy Mother’s Day, SJ!
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Happy Mother’s Day, Stephanie! And thank you – sometimes my priorities surprise me (often they surprise others!) but there were no contests during this one bloom’s grasp of my focus. Nice to think back on it as “necessary work” – thank you!
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Awesome poetry and photo! 🙂
Nature truly is trying to send us a message.
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Tom, thank you for your kind assessment, and wisdom. Curiously following the varied responses from various groups … the one common denominator is no one can ignore it.
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Nineteen fresh pieces penned this month …so far. Haven’t even bothered counting the ‘Like’s and ‘Comment’s I’ve chalked up. So not appearing *too* idle then.
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Ben, NO ONE would consider you idle … your mind seems always circling and focusing a higher-view lens on matters … thanks for all that.
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It was a response to your
“So much stirring within what appears idle.”
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Fun picture and poem! I’m sleeping crazy hours too – my new “accepted familiar”!
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Crazy hours indeed – it’s 3:30am and I’m not quite into bed for the “evening” yet … got busy working on some needlewrok and oops, it’s 3:00am! (Thanks for your comments!)
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Reading this at 5 AM and have been up for two hours. I can so relate, Jazz. Isn’t it all so weird? I absolutely love this poem. Every stanza could be a stand alone poem. And your use of exclamation points, bolding, and parenthesis adds so much to the well chosen words. This post is a good way to spend these hours before dawn.
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LuAnne, your response makes my day! Thank you. I, too, am reading others’ posts during “sleep” hours … so grateful for the blogging community. We never were all in the same time zone!
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Interesting collage – I like that the flower takes up the most space – a reflection of where our focus goes these days. Sleeping at odd hours – so true – and taking its toll, I fear. Pandemic catalyst for sure. Parks are opening here, but not overnight. It’s a start.
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VJ, thank you … that cactus bloom had me in a trance … a much-needed trance that helped me settle down “upstairs” as well as bodily. The echinopsis just bloomed its second round overnight, this time paler as in all prior blooms. I’ll forever wonder what conditions contributed to that intensity of pink … something to do with humidity? excessive anticipating human breath on evolving bud?
Texas state parks are opening for campers … but with facilities still closed … we’ll give it a try, but we cannot depart until a delivery arrives (from China mfg via Canada sales) – my elec-assist trike! COVID has mucked up shipping efficiencies and we simply don’t know when it’ll get here, so we’ll just be here waiting … then off to bike/trike around one of the closer state parks. Whee! (Gary’s had the elec-assist bike for over a year, waiting for me to say yes to a matching trike … Canada assures us it will leave Washington State any day now …)
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What a great idea! Hope they come soon – shipping is so hit and miss right now. Send pics when you get to the campgrounds. Oh, how I miss it this year.
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Interesting poem.
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Thank you.
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You are welcome Jazz, how’s your health now?
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How’s your health?
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