seeing beauty in the ordinary
— A girl contemplates the unnamed plants around her house, finding in their seasonal color changes a mirror for her own shifting moods.
— A girl traces her name in breath-fog on an evening window, observing how light casts her shadow onto the lawn below.
— A sensory catalog poem moves from mountain drives through rain showers to skiing, capturing moments of calm through specific smells and textures.
— A privileged teen volunteers at a camp in rural China's Liangshan mountains, where friendships with local Yi children reveal the true meaning of gratitude.
— A foggy bus ride home from a museum field trip becomes a meditation on the phrase 'swirling arabesques' and how certain words can feel alive.
— A winter morning walk to art class transforms when the speaker notices the river's muddy ice, mallard, and debris become a still life waiting to be painted.
— Morning fog lifts as blackbirds sing and a coyote chases a dog, leaving the speaker wondering who cleared the fog away.
— A walk on a grey path reveals falling snow alongside violence and grief, prompting wonder at snow's peaceful clarity amid human suffering.
— A young traveler contrasts swimming in the stormy Pacific and touching dead jellyfish with glimpses of urban decay seen from a bus window in a Chilean coastal city.
— A prose poem captures running with a silver poodle by the ocean, where salt air mingles with thoughts of politics and stars emerge from boredom.