Hey, Don't Take it Personally!

It may be an affront,
but it's not always personal.
It's not always about you.
Bad timing,
Misunderstanding,
Miscommunication,
or just a plain bad day
for the other guy.

Let it go.

This is not the time to get riled,
peeved, and annoyed.
This is the time to just
put up with it,
to extend the grace
you hope would be extended to you
when you are the one
affronting and annoying and stepping on
someone else's pride.
There--don't you feel better now?

No?
(have I discounted the pleasures of indignation for a season)
Well, you did the right thing,
anyway.

lori fiechter
12-01-05

I went on a walk last evening after the rain. The air smelled of tassling corn and moist earth and everything had that clean, washed look about it.

Sunflower Faces

The roses were stately,
The petunias, profuse;
The cosmos--so skinny!--
all shaggy and loose;

The gladiolas saluted,
standing tall, single file;
But only the sunflowers
willed me to smile.

It's because they have faces,
breezy, cheerful, and warm,
scrubbed a bright yellow
from the afternoon's storm.

And it would be rude,
spurning all social graces,
to refuse to grin back
at such neighborly faces.

lori fiechter
7-14-05