Integrating your life with WRITING…

Integrating my everyday life with my WRITING and my PAINTING is what I do.  At times it can be challenging as there are always dirty dishes or laundry to do, cleaning house…and even pulling weeds.

Recently I did just that…went to pull weeds and by the end of the second day, I had a poem inside me that had to come out.  Here it is.  I hope you enjoy and maybe can relate to my love of gardening.

THE DIRT UNDER MY NAILS  © 2014

The dirt under my nails makes me proud.

I was so close to the earth that it made my legs hurt, my arms sore.

My mind realizing I have ignored her, my precious garden, for way too long.

The pain I feel as I walk is a good pain.  The stiff neck muscles reminding me to pull weeds more often.

The dirt under my nails reminds me of how beautiful the flowers are with a little tender care from my arthritic hands.

It’s ok to have tired hands, swollen and knobby at the joints.

Just like dirt under the nails, it is a sign of hard work, of joyful work.

Being in my element, in the garden, for two days makes me yearn for more.  Funny how that is.

The pain in the legs reminds me of the joy in the sunshine, the morning breeze keeping me cool.  The forest birds serenading my efforts, the cardinal eating his breakfast of ripe papaya by my kitchen window.

The dirt under my nails tells a good story.  Maybe much better than my words.  The flowers tell a better story than my words too.  The iris in bloom, the Lily of the Nile, so many of them competing for attention.  The orchid branches drooping from the weight of their fragrant blooms.

I see all that in the dirt under my nails.