Where is Joy?

Created during a week-long retreat deep in the woods of Maine

among artists and fellow creative thinkers.

Where is joy? - you ask.

well, try under the dark and soft

of this mossy brown

a permeable core

tears watering verses.

Where is joy? - you ask.

maybe it is held by the breath of this

shimmering dot over water

by its generous threads

Piercing our hearts

to pull us closer.

I saw it in the brave alchemy

we call art

some capturing the changing light,

some bringing our stories to relief,

Our yellow septembers, our shy beginnings.

Where is joy?- you ask.

It lived in every new conversation

between the music in our first sunrise

and the tension in each rising tide

Joy was there when someone said

silence is not a lack of words.

On the last day, joy is hopping on our bus

as we weave embraces

and pack our never perfect, to-be finished work;

the teacher we trust the most.