Enough

“Writing is a performance, like singing an aria or dancing a jig”

—Stephen Greenblatt

Today I sing a New Years Wish that you have enough!

Definition #146 (Jeanne from Queens #18) Enough

John, Jeanne, Quenby, Owen
1977

“Writers end up writing stories

—or rather, stories’ shadows

—and they’re grateful if they can,

but it is not enough.

Nothing the writer can do is ever enough”

—Joy Williams

Definition #100 Enough

Abundance thoughts grand

in daylight pale at night-time’s

poignant needs-enough!

Franklyn Delano Roosevelt:
The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”

Enough

Enough

by Robin Chapman

There is always enough.
My old cat of long years, who
stayed all the months of his dying,

though, made sick by food,
he refused to eat, till, long-stroked,
he turned again to accept

another piece of dry catfood
or spoonful of meat, a little water,
another day through which

he purred, small engine
losing heat—I made him nests
of pillow and blanket, a curve of body

where he curled against my legs,
and when the time came, he slipped out
a loose door into the cold world

whose abundance included
the death of his choosing.

“Enough” by Robin Chapman from Abundance. © Cider Press, 2009. Reprinted with permission.

Children Without TV #35 Enough

Is a twig enough?
Or do I need an eagle’s nest?

Enough light, height, bright
outlook, closeness, uniqueness,
comfort in the wind.

Harrumph!

Harrumph said the teacher when the student shook and stuttered;
Harrumph said the gentlemen to the lady of the night.
Harrumph said the PhD to artisans and plumbers;
Harrumph said the ballet diva to rappers in the street.

Enough said St Peter at the pearly gates above;
Enough harrumphs forever for those who enter here.

Jeanne Poland
6/1/2013