What Stillness

by Laura Foley

Lily pads ripple in summer breeze,
as if they bloomed for me,
revelation-white clouds float
through a divine blue sky.
No human voices break
the stillness of this hilltop pond
where I come to forget
the foolishness of homo sapiens—
where a trout leaps from the lake,
splashes shining down,
opening a glimpse into
the world below the surface.
My dog, wet from her swim
between the visible and the hidden,
shakes dots of sparkling light
from her dark coat,
forming a watery aura.
What sunlight does to water,
stillness does to us.

From Why I Never Finished My Dissertation.
Headmistress Press, 2019. Reprinted with permission.

Read this and other poems by Laura Foley in Why I Never Finished My Dissertation, available from Amazon and your local bookstore.

As much as I value silence and down-time, especially when spent in nature, I still resist the stillness I most need in order to glimpse, as Laura Foley puts it so well, “the world below the surface” of our stressful lives. If I’ve had a full week, the resistance to taking time for myself is somehow that much stronger, and this usually ensures that I stay restless, agitated, and confused about what will really help me. Here, though, Laura Foley’s meditative summer poem offers us the gift of pointing out what we can do when we start to feel that way: Find a place, perhaps like her hilltop pond, where we can go and be quiet, simply reflecting and noticing what’s directly around us. Slowly then—and it always takes more time than we’d like—the world opens back up to us, and each cloud turns “revelation-white,” as we see the value of even a short break from human voices and the “foolishness” of our species, too often bent on harming each other and our planet. Spaces like these, separate from the bustle and noise of crowds and news, are necessary for self-care as they allow our minds and bodies to settle. Only then might we see again the “sparkling light” of water shaken from a dog’s coat, and be reminded of the small miracles and delights that make this life so worth living.

Invitation for Writing & Reflection: Find a place similar to the one Laura Foley describes in her poem, even if it is a quiet corner in your home, or a bench in a local park. Stay still for a few moments and see what calls to you from that place “between the visible and the hidden.”

ABOUT THE POET: Laura Foley

Laura Foley is the author of seven poetry collections. Why I Never Finished My Dissertation received a starred Kirkus Review, and an Eric Hoffer Award. Her collection It’s This is forthcoming from Salmon Press. Her poems have won numerous awards, and national recognition. They’ve been read by Garrison Keillor on The Writer’s Almanac, and have appeared in Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry. Laura lives with her wife, Clara Gimenez, among Vermont hills.

POETRY SELECTION AND COMMENTARY BY JAMES CREWS

James Crews is the author of four collections of poetry: The Book of What Stays, Telling My Father, Bluebird, and Every Waking Moment. He is also the editor of two anthologies: Healing the Divide: Poems of Kindness and Connection and How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope. His poems have appeared in Ploughshares, The New Republic, The New York Times Magazine, The Sun, and have been reprinted in Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry and featured on Tracy K. Smith’s podcast, The Slowdown. James teaches at SUNY-Albany and lives with his husband in Vermont.

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