In poetry I find beauty
In poetry I find peace
In poetry I find an antidote to daily life
an antidote to noise
an antidote to chaos
an antidote to cruelty and to uncaring
and to thinking about the unspeakable horrors people commit

In poetry words speak loudly
but create silences
so large a cat could walk through
unnoticed
because cats, too, know how to be silent

Bring me a poem to read, to write
when I feel unsettled
when the world needs to be calmed
or tamed
or set aside on the top shelf of the farthest closet
for just a while

while I clean house
while I open all the windows of my mind
and air out all the dankness
and darkness
and dust
that have gathered in my thoughts

The (Easter) Sunday poetry challenge from Tweetspeak Poetry was to write a poem, possibly a catalog poem, about looking for a lovely thing and finding it. One of the things I’ve discovered is that reading and writing poetry is a mindfulness exercise for me. It helps me step back and see the world differently, and notice beauty.