Numerically Speaking, Self-Published

Today I am grateful for sunshine and warmer temperatures in recent days. I am also grateful that I can keep work things in perspective better than I ever used to.

I would like to share a poem with you today. It is titled "Numerically Speaking."  I wrote it for a contest sponsored by Common Good Books and Garrison Keillor. The contest theme was gratitude, so I was compelled to put pen to paper.

Truth be told, I knew this poem wasn't necessarily the kind of poem that Keillor would be drawn to.
I still enjoyed the process of writing, revising, and more of each. I still enjoyed the anticipation of deadlines and winner announcements.

It wasn't a winner in the contest, but I certainly don't regret the time and effort I put into it.
Maybe there is something in it that will touch you today. That is one of my goals as a writer.
Thanks for reading!

Here you go:

Numerically Speaking

Twenty years

Of diligence

One day at a time

Eleven journals filled

A line at a time

Hundreds of blog posts

Published

Single post

By single post

All to achieve a more

Appreciative state

Moving from self-defeated

And depleted

To energized and engaged

Less at odds with the world

And myself

More even-keeled

In my approach

To being human

Much has been added

With simple effort

It amounts to pausing

And acknowledging

Enough is already here

There have been

Subtractions too

Limited self-pity

Fewer difficult days

Habitual practice

Of gratitude

Has changed

My angle on life

From negative

To positive

How could I know

The gratitude would grow

Exponentially

Multiplying awe

Dividing drudgery

Increasing patience

Decreasing despair

The sum now equals

Healthier perceptions

And the will to serve

But the numbers that really count—

This one day

This one moment

The solitary decimal point

That is where gratefulness

Can be counted on

April, 2016