Instagram: co.nfused

Rachel Forrest // Unknown // S. C. Lourie

by Michael Dees

A Journey, New Home

In front of me are two steps.

Once taken, two more appear.

Will there ever be

more than two

visible at one time?

Behind me is one step.

On a road I already walked.

Will that step

be any different

if I took it now?

I know what I already walked.

I can strain to see what I have yet to traverse.

Is it better to retreat to the known

when I see one step further

in the unexplored?

Forever Writng

quill rose

I just wanna get out of my head and find peace

i always send emails!

River Flows in You

Bare feet slip through mossy banks

On the other side of a bubbling creek, filled with watercress,

Is a deep path

Leading to a breathtaking waterfall.

“This way,” a teacher says,

Shoving a fistful of fresh-plucked watercress into his mouth.

Students and staff follow, in order of their eagerness

The sharp snap of the plant dances on every tongue.

Hidden and rocky though the path may be,

Treasures await the fresh-faced explorers

A waterfall spills into the creek, misting the group,

As they all file into a hidden cavern behind the rushing waters.

Teachers don’t lecture the students as they fill their cupped palms and stick their little feet in,

Most never having felt such overwhelming, refreshing freedom in their short lives

Staff watches as happiness spreads across usually bleak faces,

Knowing they’re creating core memories for themselves and their students.

When I mutter, “I wish I was a waterfall, strong and powerful and cool,”

It is Mr. A who turns to me to teach the most valuable of all lessons this day

He never lies, and with the intelligence of a middle-aged man from the middle-east, replies:

“But you are, that energy flows through you, too.”

Forever Writing,

quill rose