(Guest Voice) Debra Elisa

“The Way You Move in the World” is found in You Can Call It Beautiful by Debra Elisa, MoonPath Press, 2023.

Afterward: “The Way You Move in the World” by Sher Schwartz

The Way You Move In The World

For a long time    I’d ask questions such as

    What is a soul?

    Who created these Trees?

How did Mountains form and human beings

spawn such story? 

as if ever it can be explained.

Still    I love the tales    and wonder

about happiness:      How in this world

does one find contentment? 

What leads a marriage to not only last 

but continue to nourish the Earth

fragrance the Air     offer words 

that stir

                              what’s best in others?

I walk away from certainty

yet tell myself to notice when shoulders 

grow tight    a pain in my chest throbs   

and when and how it dissolves.

Some will tell you how they live but simply 

    can’t understand the way you move in this world. 

     Notice the Hummingbird as she builds 

          her nest again on your front porch.

Send cookies to the boy off to college last month.    

   Simmer a pot of minestrone 

        for a newly widowed neighbor.    

                Shovel a trench

and take refuge in the rain that no longer

seeps into your brother-in-law’s basement

     Delight in your mind 

         as the boy unwraps

              the box of snicker-doodles    laughter 

    as he and his roommates reach for more

                            but don’t expect a thank you.

Bow and be grateful

    when someone happens to say

                              That’s just what I needed.