The Small Pleasures of Life
Grateful
for their tour / of the pharmacy, / the first-grade class / has drawn
these pictures,
each
self-portrait taped / to the window-glass, / faces wide to the
street,
round
and available, / with parallel lines for hair.
I
like this one best: Brian, / whose attenuated name / fills a quarter
of the frame,
stretched
beside impossible / legs descending from the ball / of his torso, two
long arms
springing
from that same / central sphere. He breathes here,
on
his page. It isn’t craft / that makes this figure come alive;
Brian
draws just balls and lines, / in wobbly crayon strokes.
Why
do some marks / seem to thrill with life, / possess a portion
of
the nervous energy / in their maker’s hand?
That
big curve of a smile / reaches nearly to the rim / of his face; he
holds
a
towering ice cream, / brown spheres teetering / on their cone,
a
soda fountain gift / half the length of him / —as if it were the
flag
of
his own country held high / by the unadorned black line
of
his arm. Such naked support / for so much delight! Artless boy,
he’s
found a system of beauty: / he shows us pleasure / and what pleasure
resists.
The
ice cream is delicious. / He’s frail beside his relentless
standard.
—“Brian
Age Seven” by Mark Doty
Maybe
it’s because I live with my own seven-year-old, first-grade artist
who exudes the same such, delicious passion for life. Maybe it’s
because my Dad owns a pharmacy with a soda fountain and, in the same
such spirit, generously gives time, attention, and love to the kids
of my hometown. Maybe it’s because we are entering into a season
when we culturally set aside time for thanksgiving and gratitude.
Maybe all of these reasons—and others—contribute to why I love
this poem. And I do love it so! It feels me with such joy! It
reminds me that the beauty and simplicity and delight of our world
are abundantly present in the small pleasures of life.
What
fills you with delight these days? What fills you with hope? Even
with the compounding pressures, conflicts, and concerns of our daily
lives, where do you look to find joy? To feel gratitude? To
experience life’s deliciousness and pleasure? If you were to take
out some crayons and draw a picture of beauty, what colors and images
would fill your page? As for me, I have my crayons in front of me,
and I am drawing a picture of our World Communion celebration a few
weeks ago—our table filled with a rainbow of breads and fruits and
vegetables; our congregation standing in a circle holding hands; and
our kids serving us communion with such reverence, pride, and joy. I
can hardly think of anything more beautiful.
See
you in church,
Christy
1 Comments:
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