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No Bones About It

My late mom once noticed a lone fly buzzing about. I told her to swat it, but she said it was her friend for the moment. That memory resurfaced when a moth landed on my screen door. It reminded me of how closely we’re tied to everything around us as we move through different stages of existence. We’re never alone, indoors or out, even when we don’t see the creatures that flitter, crawl, or scamper under our floors and amid the foliage. Some wander into our homes, as the moth might have wanted to before it flew off. The moth and mouse in my poem (at bottom) is about all sorts of flighty relationships hopeful for deeper meaning. Though the poem veers from the Poets and Storytellers United prompt "bones", I will note moths and flies have none, while mice, due to tiny vertebrae in their tails, have some 230, more than the 206 in humans. And oddly, horses, too, have about 206, their tails perfect for swatting flies.

Afterthought: In view of increasing wildfires world wide, I wonder if we are equally a little bit moth, drawn to the light of our screens, and a little bit mouse, hiding from the damage we brought to the environment that sustains us.

Explore more at Poets and Storytellers UnitedSKYWATCH and Saturday's Critters


Because the state of our planet is the most pressing issue of our time, link up and learn about the  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report and watch environmental activist, 90-year-old David Suzuki, in an interview.

HOLD ONTO THE LIGHT

Hanging By A Thread

A recent appointment took me to Vancouver and the window overlooking False Creek and city skyline where Science World's dome was dressed like a soccer ball for FIFA playing at BC Place. I watched a few televised matches and got swept up in the energy, just as crowds in the stadiums did. Their wild excitement reminded me that humans once gathered in coliseums and town squares for contests ending in death and public executions. Now we settle for relatively mild injuries and distant violence, easier on our supposed “evolved sensibilities.” Still, FIFA players showed we are better off entwined in hugs and handshakes at battle's end. And as my poem for Poets and Storytellers United suggests, a desperate need to win, not just in sports and physical fights but in emotional arguments, can have us unraveling as if our very survival hangs by a thread.

At ground-level amid the highrises, victory for seagulls means heisting a tasty snack. 

Explore more at Poets and Storytellers UnitedSKYWATCH and Saturday's Critters


Because the state of our planet is the most pressing issue of our time, link up and learn about the  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report and watch environmental activist, 90-year-old David Suzuki, in an interview.

HOLD ONTO THE LIGHT