The Company Kept

A canvas rests on the leg of a bench.
He bends to add another layer of landscape at dusk
to the one started months ago.
No need to rush,
it's the company kept.
Aside an artist, dear and kin
to art and love, unspoken
affinity to be amongst
still clouds, marsh silence,
the settled sea.
                       (thoughts for a poem I'm thinking of..)

I met with my mentor today. She is wonderful!  I have been meeting with her for two years now and she has helped me grow tremendously as a writer and an emerging poet, but more than that she keeps me smiling all day. She is one of those people in my life that I want to be around, that I get such a creative and energetic surge when I am.  She makes me think, and laugh. I am grateful to have a few of these people in my life.

The above thoughts are from a scene when Michael and a dear friend of ours were painting "plein air" in Truro, MA.  My daughter Megan and I were writing nearby. We were all absorbed in the stillness and serenity of the marsh. I was surrounded by three of my favorite people and immersed in the present moment with no distractions, except for listening to a paintbrush fall below the wooden dock.  Was it Michael's or Nancy's?

To have moments such as these is a gift. To have people in our lives such as these is an even greater gift.
I call them "my people".  The ones I feel no walls between or the need to build them. The ones I can be vulnerable with and the ones to trust when I cannot hear my own voice.  They are the greatest company kept.


In an increasingly distracting and distorted world, I find it a necessity to spend my energy wisely, to keep it centered and simple.  Michael and I often "turn off"  the never-ending information systems that overload. How and who we spend our time with is vital to our growth.  We keep rooted with each other and our carrot friends.

Which, by the way, we planted multicolored carrots. I  can't wait to see them sprout. And our peas that we planted in March our doing great!

Keep rooted!