letter to ________ {mary oliver}

You have broken my heart.

Just as well. Now

I am learning to rise

above all that, learning

the thin life, waking up

simply to praise

everything in this world that is

strong and beautiful

always---the trees, the rocks,

the fields, the news

from heaven, the laughter

that comes back

all the same. Just as well. Time

to read books, rake the lawn

in peace, sweep the floor, scour

the faces of pans,

anything. And I have been so

diligent it is almost

over, I am growing myself

as strong as rock, as a tree

which, if I put my arms around it, it does not

lean away. It is a

wonderful life. Comfortable.

I read the papers. Maybe

I will go on a cruise, maybe I will

cross the entire ocean, more than once.

Whatever you think, I have scarcely

thought of you. Whatever you imagine.

it never really happened. Only a few

evenings of nonsense. Whatever you believe--

dear one, dear one--

do not believe this letter.

The Encyclopedia of the Exquisite

A new sunbeam has arrived in my life in the form of Jessica Kerwin Jenkins' book "The Encyclopedia of the Exquisite." This book gives me the same sort of thrill that a collection of leather bound books or midsummer morning sunlight gives me. It's pure happiness wrapped up in a red hardback with gold gilt tooling about the cover.

In alphabetical order it explores the histories of lovely, frankly inconsequential, things that make life twelve times better. Beginning with "aerostation" and ending with "yes," Ms. Jenkins explores the exquisite. As explained in the introduction "the word exquisite comes from the Latin verb exquirere, to search out, or to seek. It means uncommon delicacies, carefully selected, and the kind of beauty that can "excite intense delight or admiration." A definition that is exquisite in and off itself.

The Encyclopedia sits beside my bed and even when I don't have the time to read it, the mere sight makes me happy.