Popcorn Flavored Lollipop

December 17

POPCORN FLAVORED LOLLIPOP

I can’t know it.  I can’t believe it.  The world of popcorn flavored lollipops is now being visited upon me.  Both a surprise and a comfort, a popcorn flavored lollipop is given to me by the gas station attendant.  A blast of sugar and salt waken my tongue.  What can a mind do in the face of a buttered, salted bonbon on a stick?  I wouldn’t have thought of it, not in a million years.  This is somehow a source of hope to me.  There are open-minded people living in the world around me.  I often pray for creative thinking on the part of my Higher Power; I inadvertently dismiss the populace who is producing prodigies of ingenious originality and cunning.  I want the world to be gifted with what sobriety has given me.  Candy is not world peace but many great things start with a little sweetness.

Real rules can’t be broken.

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Not My Best Friend

No matter how tightly I hug a lump of coal

I will not prevail in turning it into a diamond.

Some days I accept this better than others.

My desire may affect the coal,

but this affect is not diamond producing;

though it is stress producing.

I know it stresses me and chills me to the bone.

I had thought of coal as warming,

but the disparate love of coal proves to be anything but.

I have pinned my hopes

on what this lump had the potential to become

rather than acceptance of what it is and now.

I see I must light my own fire

and know the coal is not mine.