We Don’t Sail the Same Sea

photo by Rajarshi Mitra

Olav Hauge's “We Don’t Sail the Same Sea” addresses having different perspectives:

We Don’t Sail the Same Sea
by Olav Hauge

We don’t sail the same sea,
though it looks the same.
Rough timber and iron on deck,
sand and cement in the hold,
I ride low, plunge
headlong through breakers,
wail in fog.
You sail in a paper boat,
your dream fills its blue sail,
so soft is the wind, so gentle the wave.

(Maybe Olav is right that "your" waves are gentle, but maybe he just doesn't know!)

Proud of You

Positivity Doodle by Emm Roy:

an impromptu nest

nest by Ann Kinney

A poem by IMPERFECT II poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer today:

I Might Have Resisted It
by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

Breaking open with loss
and beauty at the same time,
I almost ran from the warm theater,
threading through happy chatter
to stand alone in the cold night air,
thinking I could cry unnoticed in the dark.
But then one, then two friends
found me and took turns pulling me
into their softness, wrapping me
in such tenderness, weaving
low and soothing sounds around us
until out of love and touch and voice
they made of the moment a nest.
So gently they held my fragility
at the edge of festive shouts
and back slaps and joyous banter.
The night itself laced through
our small circle like a black silk ribbon,
tying us together,
It was only a few moments.
it was forever.

Hiller Goodspeed

Sound advice from Canadian artist Hiller Goodspeed:

Sydney Dunlap

How IMPERFECT II poet Sydney Dunlap gets her perspective back:

Life can seem overwhelming at times, even down to the little details. Sometimes it's hard to shut off my worries and know where to begin, especially when so many things tug at my time and attention. Something that helps me a lot is going outside and taking a walk or a jog and looking at the beautiful sky -- whether it's blue with puffy white clouds; or drizzly and dreary, but still so vast; or dark and deep and scattered with stars. I remember how much bigger the Universe is than my little world. As I listen to the birds sing and watch the squirrels scamper, whatever I was worried about no longer seems quite as important.

Sydney Dunlap is a former elementary school teacher who has worked with at-risk youth in a variety of settings, and she enjoys reading and writing heartfelt, hopeful fiction that expands young readers’ awareness of tough topics. A lifelong animal lover, Sydney lives with her family in a home where the dogs and cats outnumber the people. Her middle grade novel, It Happened on Saturday, is set to release in February 2023.

Sometimes/Othertimes

Doodle by Worry Lines:

Making our perspective more nuanced

Austin Kleon wrote a really interesting post about "Possible verdicts," where he talks about the concept of separating "taste" and "judgment" -- that we can acknowledge that something made well or beautiful without liking it ourselves. Also, something can be not-beautiful, but we can enjoy it. Such a cool point -- we don't have to tie whether something is beautiful to whether we like it.

He has a doodle he made to describe what he's talking about (see the link above for his doodle). I made one with additional parts. I added that sometimes we can like something (or be drawn to it) but it also can make us feel bad. Many people seem to experience that with Instagram or YouTube or reality shows. Perspectives can be complicated!

Maybe you would like to make your own doodle?