Skew

I retaught a little geometry last week and remembered my own amazement the first time I learned that two lines can exist as neither parallel nor intersecting. When was the last time I felt that epiphany of seeing the world differently? When was the last time I helped someone else discover that joy?

Intersecting: A young sophomore approached me on Thursday to tell me that it had been exactly one year since his mother died and thanks for all that I'd done for him last year. I nearly cried. After school I called his dad. The profound effect of a few words rippled through me all day.

Parallel: I'm reading "Things Fall Apart" and trying not to get too carried away with a literary analysis of my life. Some days seem so rife with irony or poetic justice that I wonder if God may really exist after all because the story is crafted so well.

Skew: My priorities have been out of whack, which led to a very unpleasant moment of serious self-doubt in the waiting room of a doctor's office.

"Blessing the Boats" by Lucille Clifton
may the tide
that is entering even now
the lip of our understanding
carry you out
beyond the face of fear
may you kiss
the wind then turn from it
certain that it will
love your back may you
open your eyes to water
water waving forever
and may you in your innocence
sail through this to that