January

January

Oil on Canvas

14"X11

Chasing the January doldrums away. Or trying to.  I don't make resolutions. But if I did, it would be to give up on preconceived notions of all kinds; to focus on the ordinary good that is right here in our midst and be satisfied. As Mary Oliver expresses in her poem, "Mindful,"

"...It was what I was born for -

to look, to listen,

to lose myself

inside this soft world -

to instruct myself

over and over

in joy,

and acclamation.

Nor am I talking

about the exceptional,

the fearful, the dreadful,

the very extravagant -

but of the ordinary,

the common, the very drab,..."