The Busyness of It All

NaPoWriMo 2020: Day 28

We all once
had regular
routines.
Constantly busy
running here and there
filling our hours
with activities
that sometimes
even allowed us
to feel useful.

But now
we’ve been told
we must sit alone,
draw a six-foot ring
around our single
person,
allowing no one
to enter our

Breathing Space.

Some hyperventilate
at just the thought,
can’t conceive
of such a reality.
Greedily gasp
for air,
using it
to scream out fear
and anxiety,
anger and rage.
Exhausting any hope
that might have
been brewing
far out there
on the horizon.

While others clean house,
paint, draw, sew,
or dig in hard dirt
to start a garden.

But then, there are
the really foolish ones,
who sit to write poems.
Stringing words like colorful
beads on a delicate chain,
hoping only that
someone
(perhaps just as foolish),
will lean in
to listen.

Elizabeth Crawford 4/28/2020

Notes: Image is a pen and ink repeat pattern doodle given a digital black background. It always puts me in mind of all the activities I’ve engaged in as I sought to feed my own Creative Fire.