Quietly Hosting Joy (on the train and at the table)

A brand new, exclusive to Substack poem

A soft and slow moment with my sweet kitty earlier this week

I hope that this post finds you experiencing some moments of softness and slowness this evening, however small. Winter temperatures have made a resurgence in Boston this week, and though we haven’t had snow fall, the sky has been generous with the rain, making days as well as nights soaking damp and quite cold. Suffice it to say that my commute downtown to teach hasn’t been something I’ve looked forward to each day.

At the same time as I’ve dreaded needing to leave the comfort of a warm apartment to go out into the chill, I have enjoyed the time spent riding the train to and from work once I’m on my way. Longtime readers of this newsletter know that one of my favorite places to write poetry is on the train, and daily commutes this week have certainly given me the chance to do so. As it happens, the longer form post I have been working on for this week hasn’t come easy, so I decided to let it sit in my drafts for now (time is a magic ingredient; hopefully it will work its powers upon my draft, and you will see it next week). In its place, I’m sharing an untitled poem (below) that I wrote just today on the Green line.