It’s hard to say what inspires.
Sometimes it is the gentle light
of a morning, a pale glowing
in the east that makes the fog
in the air, left over
from the night,
shimmer.
Sometimes it is the curve
of a tiny cheek, turned toward
the sleepy light,
marked with fluttering lashes.
Sometimes it is a word,
a picture, wisdom someone
shared a hundred years ago.
They all open
the cascade of creativity,
marrying a pen to a page
so another story is born.
This is an excerpt from Textbook of an Ordinary Life: poems. For more of Rachel’s poems, visit her Reader Library page, where you can get a few volumes for free.
(Photo by Art Lasovsky on Unsplash)
