Everything Shines With Its Own Light

I ritually stroll the spring garden
to appreciate the wonder of life.
The wet brick walkway effortlessly
supports my feet—a twisted leaf
unfurls in expectation of summer sun—
an earnest and pale green shoot breaks
dark ground and heads skyward.

Receiving this quiet show
of determined proportions,
I almost understand what
I have long suspected.

Clear Intention

I walk in the garden
to find myself.
I walk in the garden
to see what is holy.

I walk slowly
and try to receive
what is already
given. Enough.

Enough. I wish
I could remember
this.

Small Matters of Life and Death

Yesterday, I was forced to transplant some of the zinnias (Benary’s Giant) and my marigolds (Queen Sophia) I have started from seed. Though dramatic futures await these giants and queens, at the moment, they are just little beings—green threads hoisting pairs of tiny ovoid flags. Nothing yet suggests the elevated future of the zinnias nor the latent bushy splendor of the marigolds which, God willing and they’re not eaten by those cute bunnies that frequent the Temple gardens, is in store. Now they are simply fragile bits of green, unbothered by their astonishing potential.

In the morning, I had put several pots out to receive the unseasonal warmth and nourishment of yesterday’s sun. I was concerned that the sun might be too bright, but I forgot to worry about the wind. When we returned in the mid-afternoon after a trip to Boston to celebrate my son-in-law’s birthday, the pots were overturned and the seedlings cast about on the ground.

I was upset with the wind and my lack of foresight, but the seedlings seemed to have no opinion about this matter of life and death—their tender bodies lay scattered, silent and strangely unconcerned in this most dire circumstance. I gathered them as best I could and began the delicate work of repotting.

You must handle them with care, these little fellows – the whole summer is nascent in their slender bodies. Grabbing by the tiny leaves is better than risking the tender stems. Then you suspend them over the dark plastic cell while you crumble soil to fill in around the suspended thread of a root. Now pack down gently to secure the vertical direction of the trunk and softly water.

I know all this fussing around is silly. I could more easily buy mature seedlings at a greenhouse and my careful tending does not help alleviate the oppression of black and brown bodies – does not restore the promises of freedom and equality enshrined in our constitution.

But somehow, I am deeply stirred by my kinship with these small green bits of being. The deep ache of my heart is soothed and I am surely touching God as I husband these insubstantial threads of coming-into-being.

Getting Reacquainted

This cool April morning,
I walk as a stranger
through my own garden.

There’s so much
I’ve forgotten
over the long winter.

Moving slowly, I try
to see what I have
not seen before.

Everything quickens
of its own accord.

This will take more
time than I had reckoned.

Trump Is Indeed Exceptional

After the election, I had two fears: that Trump would lead the nation into an authoritarian state or that he would be so incompetent the country would suffer greatly. So far, we’re seeing much more of the later than the former.

Trump’s signature xenophobic executive order has been twice been blocked on constitutional grounds, his effort to repeal Obamacare was a thoughtless piece of legislation that even his ruling majority couldn’t agree upon, and his unbridled narcissistic tweets are not creating as much confusion for the opposition as they are for his own party.

In his incompetence and boorishness, Trump is reaching unprecedented levels of unpopularity for a President. The latest Gallup polls for the weekending April 2, show him at a new low of 38% approval ratings just to put this in context Gallup compares him to other recent Presidents at this point in their first year:

The honeymoon is not going well. And I must confess, that given my antipathy toward the man and his small-minded, self-aggrandizing and deceitful ways, I am pleased. It appears that there are indeed some consequences to his wild and irresponsible actions.

But there’s no room for celebration. Though his Presidency and his power are somewhat constrained, he is still the President and is the leader of our country. We must still actively speak up against his policies to dismantle policies to protect the environment, to defund programs that enrich our country and support our most vulnerable citizens, and to treat the rest of the world as our enemy rather than our partner.

But the danger of the drift toward authoritarianism is still real. It looks like the Senate will vote today to decrease the number of votes required to confirm a Supreme Court justice. The obstructionism and polarization of our government and our country continues. This is what we must continue to address.

As I write this, I glance at the paper and see that we have fired 59 missiles at a Syrian air base. While I abhor the Syrian government’s chemical attack on civilians, I am afraid that Trump will use an increased level of US aggression as a diversion from his incompetence and the incoherence of his policies.