Ideas, Wendy Grant

This page contains an Ideas article.

No!

No, I don't want to turn on the TV tonight.
I might miss something important like the moon sneaking up from
behind the mountain.
I know it's a rerun but it still catches my breath.

No, not one more knick knack on the mantle please and could we take
down that picture your sister gave us but we've never really liked?
Let's leave a little room for possibility.

No, for today, not one more lap to run, not one more claim to fame and
certainly not a completed to do list!
I want to play hooky and dive into and sink and float and play and bask in
open ended bottomless time.

No, I'm not going out tonight.
Not when I need to sit on the porch with the anxious stray cat who's
finally realizing he's home and is learning to relax and purr.

No, don't close the window tonight and shut out the swan song of the
last stubborn poplar leaves and the possible magic of being hooted
awake by an owl at 3 am.

And at 3 am, no to that storyline that tangles in my brain . I'd rather
breathe it into the soft cocoon of predawn darkness and let sleep move
the tangle from my brain to my hair.

No can open space.
No can reveal time.
No can uncover quiet.
No can bring us to a full stop..land us in stillness.