But still, you feel small
Your petals are minuscule
Your ideas of self worth are comparative
​
​The rain comes again in the fall
But you didn’t know you were still
Growing beneath it all
The roots grow stronger with time
So in the summer
When the sunlight hit you
You broke open
And it is scary,
To break
But that is the art of blooming.
Before a flower blooms
It must endure the fiercest rains
In the darkest hour
While still beneath the dirt

But then, there in the soil
There is a crack
Where the sun shines through

And so you begin to follow that light
You emerge on the other side
But still, you feel small
Your petals are minuscule
Your ideas of self worth are comparative
The rain comes again in the fall
But you didn’t know you were still
Growing beneath it all
The roots grow stronger with time
So in the summer
When the sunlight hit you
You broke open
And it is scary,
To break
But that is the art of blooming.
​Sarah Wallace

Small worlds unite when people meet
and share their stories.
We all have our own story to share.
We rejoice when we find a common theme
and feel connected by the invisible tread
of our common humanity.
We listen with the intent to learn and understand
when we hear a story different from ours.
We want to know more detail,
more understanding in areas we can grow.
Small worlds unite when people meet
and share their stories
and when many small worlds unite
our small world grows and grows and grows
until it becomes a unified universe.
 
​Teri Petz

​May all of us who feel
the deep of life, who sense
the mystery just beyond our grasp,
who love the words with which
we ponder, who bear the urge
to paint in words the visions, 
inklings, intimations that
come to us, come through us,
bidden or not--

May we be blessed.

May our lives be blessed,
our homes, our hearts, our hands;
our pens and pencils, blank bits
of paper, our waiting keyboard--
May all our tools be blessed.

May we be blessed with beauty.
May we be blessed with light, both 
within and without, blessed with 
eyes to see and ears to hear,
both within and without, 
hearts to know, and a safe place to be.

May we who gather here to share
the poets’ words, to share our words,
our longings, our deepest fears, 
may our gathering be blessed.

May all be richly blessed
who have a poet’s soul
and pour it into words for
this world’s bettering.
​
Jill Ebsworth 10 Nov 2020

I wanted to thank you, and you,
and you and all of you
for sharing your poetry with me.
Sharing the sadness, the joy,
the frustrations, the humour,
the beauty, sharing your thoughts,
your hopes, your dreams. 
Every time you share your poems
you share more than words with me.
You share a sacred piece of you.
And as we share, we relate,
we connect and we bond with each other
in a deep meaningful way.
Because when I see you
for who you truly are
I appreciate you more
than if we had a superficial
talk about the weather.
Thank you for sharing the sadness,
the joy, the frustrations, the humour,
the beauty, sharing your thoughts,
your hopes and your dreams. 
Thank you for sharing your poetry with me.

​Teri Petz