Some Other Ways to Live
Live like your mother didn’t die young and as if your father
bought you a horse when you were ten. Leave a little sadness
in your pocket so you can feel the sorrow of others and lean in
to help, if help is possible. Live with infinite bursts of gratitude
for the bees in the sage bush, the spider web glittering silver
between tree branches, the gleam on the body of the horse in the field,
the bean soup bubbling into fragrant steam, the dog asleep on the rug
Live as if the country is not at war with itself, as if balance is not far off.
Live knowing that, right now, people all over the world are helping each other—
to plow a field, catch a calf, fix a roof, bury a child, bake the bread,
learn the music, sing the harmony. How they light many lamps
at nightfall, how they stoke the fires of justice, of dedication,
of courage, and persistence, the fires of hope and guidance,
the fires we can almost see from here.
Lisa Zimmerman’s poetry collections include How the Garden Looks from Here (Violet Reed Haas Poetry Award) The Light at the Edge of Everything (Anhinga Press) and Sainted (Main Street Rag). Her poetry and fiction have appeared in SWWIM Every Day, Apple Valley Review, Cave Wall, Poet Lore, Vox Populi, Ghost Parachute, and many other journals. Her poems have been nominated for Best of the Net, five times for the Pushcart Prize, and included in the 2020 Best Small Fictions anthology. She is a Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Northern Colorado.
Amethyst Review 