the world is as it is
because we so often followed the rules,
did as we were trained
used ‘best practices’
rather than our love
or higher brains
what if —
at first for just a half an hour a day,
until our long-domesticated hopes
recall the taste of it
we tell each other,
tell our disbelieving selves
that in this one small pregnant slice of time
our highest aspirations
are the rules
our longings are the compass, and the map,
the light that knows
and shows the next small step
they are the seed
that knows it is a tree
and we are free
to do
as we see fit
— September 4, 2017
