Pressure

Pressure
  is
    one small clog
      in
        just
          the wrong place

Pressure
  is
    the unbearable
      ache
    the knowing
      that something
        must
          give

Pressure
  is
    the feeling
      that you
        must
          sneeze
    ah-
      ah-
        ah-
    and never
      a
        choo

Pressure
  is
    a full schedule
      and one more thing
        to do

Pressure
  is
    sudden
      responsibility
        and no one
          to teach you

Pressure
  is
    perfectionism
      without
        prioritization

Pressure
  is
    the fear
      that no one
        could
          love
            inadequate
              weak
                sick
                  incomplete
                    you

Pressure
  is
    the whine
      of a tea kettle
        when you
          must
            take
              it
                off
                  the heat
                    now

Pressure
  is
    how
      a volcano
        erupts

Pressure
  is
    what
      kills
        an astronaut
          from within
        and a diver
          from without

Pressure
  is
    how
      to cook
        much
          faster
        than seems
          quite
            possible

Pressure
  is
    how
      coal
        becomes
          a diamond

Pressure
  is
    how
      we fill
        our lungs
          with air

Pressure
  is
    how
      we
        slurp up
          water

Pressure
  is
    how
      we swallow
        our food

Pressure
  is
    how
      we
        massage away
          our worries

Pressure
  is
    how
      we
        wrap
          our loved ones
            in our arms

Pressure
  is
    how
      tires
        become
          strong
        and carry us
          where we
            need
              to be

Pressure
  is
    the
      force
        of our hopes

Pressure
  is
    the gap
      between
        our longing
          and
            reality

Too much
  and
    we
      burst

Too little
  and
    we cannot
      move

It Came In Beauty

The old year ended
In beauty

Pale clouds glowing in the night sky
Thin yet rounded
Drops of diluted watercolors from a masterful brush
Brightening, not darkening, the sky

The moon full and bright
Sailing high above the world
Shining between and sometimes through
Those lightly veiling clouds

Between the veils were the stars
Twinkling faint and remote
Piercing in their beauty

A faint moonbow surrounded the moon
Delicate color in the white light

"Do we look at the stars
Because we are human
Or are we human
Because we look at the stars?"

When first I read Stardust
I thought it a foolish question
Obviously
We look at the stars
Because we are human
Or everyone in LA
Is only half-human

But now I think
Perhaps that conclusion
Is not so absurd after all

Something shifted in me
That night in the desert
When first I saw the stars

But it is not only Angelenos
Who have forgotten
How to be human

The new year came in beauty
But how many were looking?

Something shifts in me
When I see the stars
A longing that has nothing to do with space
And everything to do with heaven

The new year came in beauty
And Beauty will save the world