Hope is here!

 https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/89897/good-bones

Hope is here! It is not floundering, it is alive and well!

- In Maggie Smith's 2016 poem Good Bones, sneaking into our feeds again because her new book, Dear Writer, is now out to help us live writing lives (who else can't wait to read it?).

- In gathering with friends from high school - that means I've known them almost 45 years, meeting at freshman fall sports tryouts and making our way through these decades. We cook in Mary Ellen's kitchen and pour each other more wine, more water, and share our full hearts, our hopes and dreams and fears, and receive back care, wisdom, and hugs.

- In reconnecting with a colleague as we literally exchange hope ideas and political notes and make a commitment to reconnect and be there for each other in hard days.

- In working with students afterschool who want to use their voices, experiences, words and energy to write legislators and tell them "SEE ME. What you're doing hurts me, and I will not be silent in the face of your harm."

- In a two-hour road trip with fellow Honesty volunteers, where we share our professional origin stories, giving each of us air time to build our narratives and connect the dots for how we landed in the work we do, and why/how it fuels us.

- In a joyful voice mail from a young adult I love, sharing the good news of moving into her (first!) own apartment.

I have so many reasons to hope, and dear reader, are you now thinking about the poems, the friends, the young people, the road trips, the stories, the good news, that bring you hope, too? We can make this place beautiful.