Hi All,

A fun change this month – a new look! Collaborator/longtime friend/cousin Katie Hands graciously shared her work for this post in addition to tips on site design. Katie is a wonderful writer, and hosts her own blog, here. Please take a look.

This month we focused in on the theme of Patience – one that both of us have been wrestling through lately. It’s a trying time. As we know. The search for patience can sometimes feel like a lost cause. However, time takes its time. Brighter days. The revolution must be joyous.

Enjoy!

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Days gone by
by Katie Hands

There are many things
I never told you
Because I didn’t take the time

The words spilled out
Inside my head
Drowning out the rest

Those words I spoke
But didn’t speak
Haunt me to this day

There are many things
I should have said
But couldn’t form the words

Days go by
And each year ends
But the thought of you remains

And everything I never said
Will while away the days

For each new morning
And impending dusk
Will be the only remaining change

One day I’ll tell you everything
If given the chance to speak
And so I’ll wait in the days to come
I’ll wait for you patiently

---

youth,
by Alexander Gudding

*note: a “>” indicates a redirection of thought

you’re home
when you want to be
haunted

this forest is for your tree
and your tree a forest

with a collapse
and winded, the branch
heaves

so too this feeling,
without incident.

>

a late walk
jeans melting into
thighs.

house lights enthralled
with their occupants,

the looks of
parents listening
intensely,

buildings brown’d against
a blu’ing sky.

>

nowhere,
patience strides
frequently

and rules minds
and holds limbs.

where earth-bound,
a body touches
skin,

and a thought,
lived in.

>

a rumour
lengthens out over
time.

a synapse tingles
to remember.

fussy hands
over a head of
hair,

the spirit’s knuckles
crack and pop.

>

heading out
bending through
solids,

patience mourns.
in times of unrest

its ink settles
at the edges of the
heart.

a heart it seems,
can change color(s).

>

no cleverness
can expedite
growth

as bones take
their time, their breadth.

what feels like waiting
under each other’s
moonlit

desperation,
desperate. desperate.

>

impatience, stop
listing gains like
groceries.

let friendship
and unlimited fervor

build in plain sight,
build bridges
alight.

the runner stopped,
and fed.

>

a body new to
its yearnings encounters
incident.

lipstick underlining
each new word, learning,

a body can be
as gentle as any
other.

the morning will arrive,
all the same.
patiently.

>

air slowly
leaps as we
kiss,

our hands are Beautifully
arranged on the face.

We tiptoe along each
other’s fault lines,
quaking.

---