I have worked hard to develop the confidence to trust my own choices. To know that only I know what is best for me. To stave off self-doubt. To be able to say, “Their path is not my path.” And. “I know those kinds of things don’t work for me.” To observe the choices that others make with respect and afford myself the same kindness. Seeing things differently does not make us less worthy.

 

“Each time I understood a poem better, I made some decision in my own life that I understood better than before—because poems showed me unvarnished states of human emotion that I could examine. And after many decades, I realized that art was the healthiest part of my life, and if I could make mature decisions in life the way I made them in art, with the concentration, focus, and balanced energy of poetry, then I would be leading a life I admired.”
—Molly Peacock, How to Read a Poem and Start a Poetry Circle

One Heart

Look at the birds. Even flying
is born

out of nothing. The first sky
is inside you, open

at either end of day.
The work of wings
was always freedom, fastening
one heart to every falling thing.

—Li-Young Lee, from Book of My Nights

Film mailed to the lab. Waiting now for scans and all that will be revealed. In the meantime, I’m taking digital pictures with pops of color. Continuing to practice with the Sigma 35 1.4 lens. Just discovered that tiny vintage leather purses make excellent cases for carrying point-and-shoot film cameras, a card and keys. These little things make me genuinely happy.