(October 2021. Written during another brief moment of calm on a bench overlooking Greyhound Rock on the coast north of Santa Cruz during what was otherwise a 5 day period of extreme duress.)
Pain places loads
Lightened by laughter.
Oh God am I grateful
To suffer so much more
Complexly.
The green leaves what I see
Sunshine shimmering
Too bright for believing.
I blink with the wind.
Still shimmering.
The dream is real.
Beatin' Paths ~~~ The journey to the Great American Novel 