your place in the family of things / cape breton travel

you do not have to be good.

you do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.you only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.tell me about your despair, yours, and i will tell you mine.meanwhile the world goes on.meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes,over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers.meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,are heading home again.whoever you are, no matter how lonely,the world offers itself to your imagination,calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —over and over announcing your placein the family of things.

/ mary oliver, wild geese

a dear friend sent me over this poem in an email the other week. it's stayed with me.& the fact that it's remained in my mind is the answer to my many moments of wondering the following question : so what. have you wrestled with these two words before? so what this picture. so what these words. so what this art. does it really matter? does it make a difference?when i read these words written by a stranger i don't even know, & remember how they touched me in a way that i can't explain, i think, that is why. that is why any art, any honesty, any attempt at connection. it matters! keep putting your voice out there, because you don't know how it will help, but i do believe that it most certainly will.