Here’s today’s #wonderbreak. [Want to learn more or join in by sharing your own poems about joyful things using the #wonderbreak hashtag?]
Two days ago, I got a mug in the mail, a gift from Read Aloud Revival. The cardboard box it came in had the cutest burlap ribbon around it with a cheery paper flower. It made me think about other little things that have made me smile: a lovely letter recently from a librarian about If You Were the Moon, and she had doodled all sorts of cute pictures and phrases all over the note and envelope; a poem given to me by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater several years ago at an NCTE or similar conference, and it was tucked inside a scroll, which was tied closed with (I think) a bow of colorful yarn made from the wool of her sheep. These little added touches that people do, over and above whatever the actual gift or item is, bring such a feeling of warmth and cheer to me. I am TERRIBLE about doing them myself–maybe that’s why I’m always astonished when people find the time to do something that has no function except to make someone smile.
3 Responses
Your poem reminds me of a favorite quote from Edward W. Bok, “Make you the world a bit better or more beautiful because you have lived in it.”
https://boktowergardens.org/
Yes! Love.
I love these special touches, too. I wish I were good at these little surprises of love. Like your poem, no job but beauty. We need more beauty.