Category Archives: The Liminal Times

Leaving Things Behind


Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said..

A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes

made..

Or a garden planted..

Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die,

and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you’re there..

It doesn’t matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that’s like you after you take your hands away..

The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said..

The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all.. the gardener will be there a lifetime..

-Ray Bradbury

The Zoomies


 Suddenly –

A twitch, a spark in those eyes.

Muscles coil, ready to spring.

Whoosh!

A blur of fur launches across the room,

Ricocheting off walls, skidding on floors.

Paws barely touch ground,

A whirlwind of joy incarnate,

Defying gravity, logic, and all attempts at calm.

Round and round,

A tornado of tail and tongue.

Furniture becomes obstacle course,

Conquered in leaps and bounds,

As if the floor is lava, and stillness, death.

Eyes wild, ears pinned back,

This ball of energy careens,

Fueled by an invisible force of glee.

Minutes of mayhem,

A lightning storm of elation,

Then –

Collapse.

Panting, grinning, spent.