Status Updates From A House Called Tomorrow: Fi...

By the toe of my boot,
a pebble of quartz,
one drop of the earth’s milk,
dirty and cold.
I held it to the light
and could almost see through it
into the grand explanation.
Put it back, something told me,
put it back and keep walking.

“On the Road,” by Ted Kooser, 2004

won’t you celebrate with me
what i have shaped into
a kind of life? i had no model.
born in babylon
both nonwhite and woman
what did i see to be except myself?
i made it up
here on this bridge between
starshine and clay,
my other hand; come celebrate
with me that everyday
something has tried to kill me
and has failed.

~ Lucille Clifton, The Book of Light, 1993

Robert Sund, Considering Poverty and Homelessness
(homage to Bashō)
“I cannot go back now,
for what I have not done.
Of what is done,
take—and be kind.
I am building a voice for my grief.
Alone, on foot,
if years from now I have learned anything,
I will wander back.
Dust will rise up
on a dry winter road
where no one has walked before.”