A persistent rain is falling.   I am happy to see it.  Trees will benefit from taking a deep drink of fresh water.  These mornings are rare.  They are a precious cue to reflection about the kid who still lives within.  You know, — that kid who “hated” rain days, always longed to be out-of-doors, off to adventuring in the woods, exploring the creek, examining the granite walls of the abandoned rock quarry, etc. Every sense was tuned to notice what Nature had to teach.  To be lead actor in a production of one’s own imagination…  That kid remains as aspect of the adult that I became.  And yeah, I know the story was not always so idyllic…

This morning I only care about how the imagination develops, — how the child learns to be a boy and the boy becomes a man.  That is the work of the imagination.

This poem served as a catalysis for those thoughts:

Boy with a Stick

by Darrell Petska

Traipsing through the hinterlands of dream,
his staff/cudgel/dragon’s bane poised
toward peril and adventure,

he weighs horizons with eagle eyes,
his feet in sync with his drum-beat heart,
the world his toy and testing ground.

Has anyone encountered his like?
Fierce yet tender, befriender of puppies and ants,
a trickster with wings on his heels.

Indulge him. Leave him room to roam.
He heeds a call you cannot hear.
Determined, destined, right’s ready paladin,

he travels far yet knows where home lies,
returns scuffed and bruised to recount
fantastical tales of derring-do—and eat,

hungry from the road’s hard demands.
Greet him with fanfares, earnest embraces:
his leave from the waiting world so brief.

© by Darrell Petska.

Darrell Petska is retired from a 30-year career as publication editor for the University of Wisconsin College of Engineering. He also spent time doing psychiatric casework and nursing home social work; through it all, he has written poetry. His work—which includes fiction as well as poetry—has been widely published. Father of five and grandfather of six, Darrell lives in Middleton, Wisconsin with his wife of more than 50 years. Learn more about him at conservancies.wordpress.com.

---

Perhaps you’d like a song, a lyric to calm the mind, focus your spirit for the tasks which life will present for this day?  This one by Exile always quickens my pulse.  The story is about the imagination.  The imagination operates at the boundary of the self, the zone of high risk encounter with others, with the world.  Oh, to remain as open, as eager, as self-forgetful as the child!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpiBdB6yJC8

Kiss You All Over

By Exile

When I get home, babe
Gonna light your fire
All day
I’ve been thinkin’ about you, babe
You’re my one desire

Gonna wrap my arms around you
Hold you close to me
Oh, babe I wanna taste your lips
I wanna fill your fantasy, yeah

I don’t know what I’d do without you, babe
Don’t know where I’d be
You’re not just another lover
No, you’re everything to me

Ev’rytime I’m with you, baby
I can’t believe it’s true
When you’re layin’ in my arms
We do the things you do

You can see it in my eyes
I can feel it in your touch
You don’t have to say a thing
Just let me show how much
Love you, need you, yeah

I wanna kiss you all over
And over again
I wanna kiss you all over
Till the night closes in
Till the night closes in

Stay with me, lay with me
Holding me, loving me, baby
Here with me, near with me
Feeling you close to me, baby

So show me, show me ev’rything you do
‘Cause baby no one does it quite like you
Love you, need you
Oh, babe

I wanna kiss you all over
And over again
I wanna kiss you all over
Till the night closes in
Till the night closes in

Till the night closes in
Till the night closes in
Till the night closes in

Lyrics by Mike Chapman, Nicky Chinn