Quartet authors Vivian Hanson, Laurie MacFayden, Billy-Ray Belcourt, Lisa Pasold at the Almanac, Sept. 20, 2017.
Laurie MacFayden reads from Walking Through Turquoise
Ordinary
who would ever believe
looking into your ordinary eyes could stop me from breathing;
that touching your scars could transport me to the stars
who would ever believe two ordinary sets of hands
could cartwheel to the moon and back, and again, and back
then sleep in an ordinary bed
in an ordinary room
under ordinary sheets,
dreaming extraordinary dreams.
often there is panic after love’s reveal:
how to snare it, wrap it? ensure it can’t fly away
listen — you put a ring in my heart
not the kind that encircles a finger;
the kind of sound
a happy bell makes.
who’d have ever thought
this ordinary life
could turn ordinary eyes into happy jars of cherry jam
turn these ordinary lives into sacred trust,
turn you into me
and me into you …
all ordinary
and grateful.
spatherdab 