Yes, it IS just that simple.
Nothing great comes without its share of effort. Reward and satisfaction are always waiting at the end of a hard work day without regard to how much got done, how much is left to be done, or whether the game has yet been won.
The contest we are in, if life is a contest, is not a struggle against the world’s pull, the gravity of gravity or the differences in one another, but rather the contest is the battleground and struggle within ourselves to allow ourselves to be and feel as we should be, as we must be. I believe that love is neither band-aid or cure-all for these ills - but it is salve for all wounds, lubricant for every squeaky wheel, the reason for getting up in the morning or for staying awake late at night.
I’ll ‘splane it away, in Q + A and a low-cal poem sandwich:
Q: To see anything we don’t understand, at any distance in time or space – with telescope, microscope or horoscope – aren’t we all looking for some insight into what makes life, our life, tick – why is that?
A: A poem sandwich answer, like bookends holding message filling between them; c’mon, try a bite, you might like it . . .
REACHING OUT
I was
awake
when you
might
have
called
home
when
you might
have
knocked
alone
when you
thought not
but when you
wake up
when I
wake up
when is it
really
that
learning
starts
when
knowing
happens
when
change
takes over
takes us
from
wanting to know
when wanting
to help
turns into
help
when longing
turns
into
knowing
when exactly,
does that happen?
As most of my readers know, I’m new to writing fiction. Just 20 weeks of short stories so far. The fiction part is new, but when it comes to mystery and drama, life has left me feeling more veteran-like.
Not reading, not writing - but living a mystery. I know the basic plot line, get to understand the characters extremely well but just when I least expect it - find I don’t have a clue . . .
Clarity, they say, is an essential quality in both gem stones and fine wines; I think it is an essential ingredient in relationships too, chief among them – the relationship we have with ourselves. Moments of knowing, hours of understanding, days of wonder and nights of wonderful. Sappy? Yes. True? Absolutely!
Sometimes I find myself muttering, “this can’t be fiction, because you can’t make this stuff up . . . ”. Of course you can. That’s the point. Reality isn’t make-believe. It is unbelievable, inconceivable, irrational and inexplicable reality.
Fiction is absolutely like life. We think we know the characters a bit, though they keep surprising us. Stories and people unfold mostly as predicted, except when they don’t.
They do other things you never imagined they would, express ideas and views and emotions you never knew they would. The writer throws things at them to slow the story and to more fully develop the exposing of their character, advancing the action, advancing the telling of the story.
The character’s character was there all along, but the story telling is about revelation of character. We love it. We hate it. We eat it up.
I like that over-worked news media punch line, “What did he know, and when did he know it?” In personal terms, “What did I feel, and when did I feel it?” Oddly, I rarely hear it expressed as ‘what did she feel, and when did she feel it?” I’ll research the answer to that.
NEVER TOO LATE
never finished
never done
life’s poem
just begun
finish one
start again
not today
and then
again
most things
work
that
way
never
done
never
too late
never
ever
A day, a pound or a dollar - by what units do we measure life? How do we measure progress to get from there to here, and from here to where we believe we are going? What? Which? And who comes first? Who is priority, where do they fit, when do we know it, when do you know it, when do I know it?
There seems to be no better answer than – one day at a time.
Mark Kolke
310,604
P.S.: family matters – my dad is OK but they admitted him to hospital for a couple more days of monitoring and medication tweaking to be sure he won’t collapse again; daughter Krista is still sore from her accident but mending – and sounding – much much better; son-in-law Chad gets a big happy birthday (34) today and daughter Carla continually amazes me with her insight to all of us as she plays her role in our family
Comments Received:
PATIENT PATIENCE
I’ve read that both Krista and your Dad have had incidents this week and I’m glad to hear they’re both okay, CM, Calgary
VOICE BEHIND THE BENCH
A good read. Another surprise ending, SB, Calgary, AB
