By Writing I Can Live In Ways

I Thought How We Might Have To Yell To Be Heard By Higher Power, But That's Not Saying It's Not There. And That Is Faith For You. It's Belief Even When The Gods Don't Deliver.

Coming Down Off The Trail, I Am Lost In My Own Thoughts And Unprepared When A Bear Chugs Across The Path Just Before It Gives Out On The Gravel Road. I Am So Distracted That I Keep Walking Towards The Bear. I Only Stop When It Rears, Stands On Hind Legs, And Stares At Me, Sensitive Nose Pressed Into The Air, Weak Eyes Searching. I Have Never Been This Close To A Wild Bear Before, But I Am Not Frightened. There Is No Menace In Its Stance; It Is Not Even Curious. The Bear Seems To Know Who Or What I Am. The Bear Is Not Impressed.

The World Tips Away When We Look Into Our Children's Faces.

Cold Sinks In, There To Stay. And People, They'll Leave You, Sure. There's No Return To What Was And No Way Back. There's Just Emptiness All Around, And You In It, Like Singing Up From The Bottom Of A Well, Like Nothing Else, Until You Harm Yourself, Until You Are A Mad Dog Biting Yourself For Sympathy. Because There Is No Relenting.

Being A Girl Didn't Really Affect Me Until I Entered Junior High And Had To Wear Skirts, Curl My Hair, And Even Get Used To Panty Hose. However, My Hatred Of Panty Hose Helped Make Me A Writer Who Only Wears Comfortable Clothes. I've Successfully Avoided Panty Hose For Most Of My Life.