Today his words surround me with the quiet intensity of growing things, roots planted a long time ago lacing the distances of my heart. - Lisa Suhair Majaj

consider a delicate porcelain bowl
how it crushes under a single blow-
in one moment whole years disappear

I find inspiration in anything that sparks attention and emotion and associations—an object, a news article, a natural scene, a sound, an odor. Going for walks sharpens my awareness as well as freeing my mind to wander. I think losing my parents so early, and keeping so many mementos from them around me in my daily life, helped shape my understanding of how meaning is embedded in the simplest of things. I use potholders my mother crocheted, keep my dad’s paperweight on my desk, and think of them daily.

soon syllables will fall from her lips
the first rain