Wild Indulgence
There is a woman in my neighborhood with not one, but six full-grown St. Bernard dogs. She tethers them to her waist and trots the happy troop up and down the street. I see her and think what a wild indulgence, to gather so much joy it orbits you in a glorious parade of gluttony, as if she leaves the house and dares the world to question how much happiness one person deserves. It’s ridiculous of course – but so is happiness, so is the heart’s hunger for more and more more
by Elise Powers found on her Substack.
Invitation: “My doorway to wild indulgence is …”
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Elise Powers is a Seattle poet whose work explores womanhood, identity, relationships, and what she calls the "sacred ordinary" of everyday life. A graduate of Western Washington University, her poems have appeared in literary journals and anthologies, earning recognition from the Central Avenue Poetry Prize, the Black Horse Review Poetry Contest, and Best of the Net nominations. Her debut collection, The Size of Your Joy, invites readers to pay attention to the tenderness, grief, wonder, and joy that often hide in plain sight.
You can find her work on Instagram @elisepowerspoet and her Substack newsletter, Two Raw Sugars.
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July Courageous Citizen
Dr. Paul Farmer
For our July Americans Who Tell the Truth feature, we chose Dr. Paul Farmer because he spent his life living into the belief that we have a moral responsibility to accompany those who suffer. He didn’t simply talk about equity. He embodied it. Whether someone lived in a remote village or a place forgotten by the rest of the world, he believed no one should be beyond the reach of care.
https://americanswhotellthetruth.org/portraits/dr-paul-farmer/
I love the idea from Elise Powers of "wild indulgence." And, I can picture her neighbor and her dogs --- in such a happy scene --
"There is a woman in my neighborhood
with not one, but six
full-grown St. Bernard dogs.
She tethers them to her waist
and trots the happy troop
up and down the street."
Good for her and why should we not engage in some wild indulgence.
Some poems remind us that joy does not always arrive quietly. Sometimes it walks beside us, impossible to hide. Thank you for celebrating the sacred abundance of ordinary life.