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.
