Daily

Daily

These shriveled seeds we plant,

corn kernel, dried bean,
poke into loosened soil,
cover over with measured fingertips

These T-shirts we fold into

perfect white squares

These tortillas we slice and fry to crisp strips

This rich egg scrambled in a gray clay bowl

This bed whose covers I straighten

smoothing edges till blue quilt fits brown blanket
and nothing hangs out

This envelope I address

so the name balances like a cloud
in the center of sky

This page I type and retype

This table I dust till the scarred wood shines
This bundle of clothes I wash and hang and wash again
like flags we share, a country so close
no one needs to name it

The days are nouns:  touch them

The hands are churches that worship the world


 ~ Naomi Shihab Nye ~

(The Words Under the Words)

Fresh

To move
Cleanly.
Needing to be
Nowhere else.
Wanting nothing
From any store.
To lift something
You already had
And set it down in
A new place.
Awakened eye
Seeing freshly.
What does that do to
The old blood moving through
Its channels?

~ Naomi Shihab Nye ~


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