Michelle Wallace and Amy Moffitt

Cathedral Tree
By Michelle Wallace
Painted in response to Amy Moffitt’s poem (below)

If he would listen
By Amy Moffitt

This is a morning
for the spiritual discipline
of watching falling leaves.

Here is why:

Every leaf has its story,
every one began as a bud on the branch
every one grew, soaked in the sun.

Every one, now grown radiant in their dying
–red, yellow, flames upon flames–
descending to the ground

will nourish the earth in their death.
Every leaf is necessary.
Every leaf has its story.

Every leaf gives its life
to nourish the ground beneath
the tree that gave it birth.

We are all too important to be ignored.

I met a man who is
trying to outrun his grief
at life forever altered and love lost.

He is a man of unfinished sentences,
of constant, frantic movement.
He is trying to ignore his own story.

He doesn’t have time to listen,
but if he did, I would tell him of
the spiritual discipline
of watching falling leaves.
You are too important to be ignored.

——————————————————-

Delicate
By Michelle Wallace
Inspiration Piece provided to Amy Moffitt

Untitled
By Amy Moffitt
Response to Michelle Wallace’s painting (above)

Every morning
my fear and I wake up
and greet each other.
He’s so reliable, my fear,
staring me straight in the eyes
from the pillow opposite mine.

Hello.
Good morning.

Before I put one hesitant foot
on the perilous ground
of my bedroom floor,
I call out for my faith.
He likes to hide in my closet,
and he only comes when called.

But if I call, he does come.
Sometimes on weak legs,
sometimes ghostly pale
and barely-there.
But he comes, and I offer him
breakfast in bed.

As I feed him, he grows strong,
and so do I.

I roll over,
turn my back on my fear,
and place my foot firmly
on the solid ground of my bedroom floor,

my first hopeful step taken
on the tightrope of my day.