April 17, 2020 Poem “Quote “

 


Quote
 
     Now is all we have.
     Love is who we are.
                ~Anne Lamott
 
I’m sifting through files, when this floats
onto my lap, this cream-colored envelope—
stationery Tim and I asked a friend to design
for a business that carried us twenty years
 
To here.
To now.
 
The quoted words are written in my hand,
something from writer Anne Lamott,
but the source? Well, I’ve read quite a lot
by Anne. Never met her. Did not note
the particular work. Does it matter?
 
No. It is here.
With me now.
 
And I feel the truth, see it everywhere I look,
stacked on our shelves, between the covers of each book—
essence of each maker distilled into gifts speaking
over the distance of years, abundance not just of the maker
but of so many generous people who carried them here.
 
Not just each book.
Wherever I look.
 
The silver teaspoons of my grandmother, a cross-stitch
from Tim’s sister honoring our wedding. A trompe-l’oiel
shawl from my mother disguising a battered door.
Endless list—--towels in the bathroom, sheets on our bed,
photographs on our walls, all sent by my sister.
 
10,000 love notes.
Waiting to be re-read.
 
Friends. Living or departed, still a rich chorus.
You, whom we understand, who are there for us.
You know who you are! You have marked us.
This morning, I see how love, our magic alphabet,
writes us real, sends us back to the source.
 
To speak and to see,
To love and to be.
 
Or in Anne’s words now:
Help, Thanks, Wow.
 
 
Leslie Schultz


These quiet days are filled with new reading and re-reading…books, letters, memories, and clouds…and the journey continues! LESLIE

4 thoughts on “April 17, 2020 Poem “Quote “

  1. Thank you, Beth…where would I be without these connections (with us, back to 1986!)

    Love is a verb, but it has the power to magnetize and transform everyday objects into so much more. l want my eyes rinsed clean to that truth everyday.

  2. A perfect message for these times – a reminder of the power of love. I like the Anne Lamott quote a great deal. There are parts of the poem that just sing to me. This one, however, seems so true and right:

    Friends. Living or departed, still a rich chorus.
    You, whom we understand, who are there for us.
    You know who you are! You have marked us.
    This morning, I see how love, our magic alphabet,
    writes us real, sends us back to the source.

    To speak and to see,
    To love and to be.

  3. Might be— I am thinking I might reread all her books…fortunately they are all on my “perennial” shelf (that lot mostly gifts to myself!)

    l do love “Bird by Bird.” My next big project is returning to a novel in progress. I am torn! Might reread “Hard Laughter” first. We’ll see.

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