Peace

  • Sophia, Once Again

    "Sweetie," she said,"these things aren't happening to you,they're happening for you.There's a big difference." My blank lookmust have communicated my confusion. She patted me on the knee."You just sit with thatwhile I get us some tea." Text and image © 2014… Continue reading

  • Releasing

    So many questions,so few answers,so little needto stress about either. Text and image © 2014 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading

  • Dismissal

    Give me a balcony(somewhere on the East coast of Mexico),air scented with hidden hyacinth(sweet, exotic, sensual),a waning moon and the evening's first star(just freed from the hazy horizon),and a fresh-pressed volume of poetry(Rumi? Oliver? Collins?). You may leave now. Text… Continue reading

  • Seeing Good

    Today,right now,make the decisionto see the good around you:    beauty,    kindness,    color,    play,    love,    diversity,    possibilities. Observe the goodfor just 15 minutesand you will be    calmer,    more focused,    more creative, … Continue reading

  • 5th Ave., February

    New York City,held tonight in winter's fat paws,going nowhere. The lions freeze solidon the library steps. Cats breath rises from street grates,wraps in ice each twig,car antennae,pigeon feather,rat's tail. Text and image © 2014 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading

  • Sophia Again

    She stepped from the broom closetlike a dinner guest exiting the powder room."Missed me?" she asked. "Like gas pain," I answered. "You know I'm here to relieve the pain?" "Yes, I know that." She eyed the box of Russel Stovers… Continue reading

  • Another Serenity Prayer

    God, just for today,grant me freedomfrom the desire to beanywhere or anyone else. Amen. Text and image © 2014 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading

  • Pines

    This was my stand of pines,my sanctuary,my refuge from adolescent angst.Here I kneltand inhaled stability. Now they are stumps. Do slaughtered trees leave ghosts?I am haunted by the stickiness of pitchand the scent of sun-warmed needles. Text and image ©… Continue reading

  • Walls

    At duskI come upon the ruinsof an ancient wall.It's graying rocks,lichen-covered and rain-smoothed,rise like disintegrating teethabove the black-eyed Susansand Queen Anne's laceof the field. Whose hands gathered and stacked these stonesand to what purpose?Was I to be kept out?Were you to… Continue reading

  • This Morning

    Furnace hums;coffee mug warms hands;cat on lap chews pen. This morning,too contentto write. Text and image © 2014 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading