ALL THE GOOD THINGS AREN’T THERE: A WRITER PUTS DOWN HER PHONE - Michelle LeBaron

(Photo by Mabel Amber)

All the good things aren’t there

            no matter how often I look

                        and the world hasn’t ended either.

I look often, just in case

            body counts and hail storms

                        scrolling for the new.

But all the good things aren’t there

              yellow iris, lichened rocks

               a voice asking ordinary questions.

If all the good things aren’t there

            then maybe I’ll set it down

                        this thing voracious for my gaze.

Maybe today, I’ll see

            tiny birds and new friends

and butter roses.

Maybe today, the dammed words

will tumble free, finding form

            as the green things they are.

And signs and runes and buried dreams

            will show the way to the well

                        where all the good things grow.

Professor Michelle LeBaron is a scholar/practitioner of conflict transformation and a faculty member at the University of British Columbia Allard Law School. Originally from the prairies, she loves the alchemy of living near the sea. Michelle writes poetry, essays and journal articles, and is author of several books including Changing Our Worlds: Art as Transformative Practice, The Choreography of Resolution: Conflict, Movement and Neuroscience and Conflict Across Cultures: A New Approach for a Changing World.