here in boulder, slowly, at the speed of trust

it seems we are remembering how to play “village”

in text messages asking to watch each others houses, in calls co-regulating the stresses of life, in person together sharing food and our hearts

i hear the child in me saying, wanna play?

wanna play together? i know a game!

it’s the game the rocks play, and the stream and the rainy clouds and the birds.

we’ve been playing these human games that haven’t been all that great for any of us. i’m tired of those games…

wanna play “friends?”

friends with the limits of my animal body

and my aching heart

friends with my friends back home, staying friends with the ones i’ve already committed to

friends with the land i live on, love on, drive over

how would i treat you all if we were all family?

family still means boundaries

but we stay in blood relationship through it all, a red thread, pumping to the heart’s rhythm, that can carry that love back out, back open

the relatedness of our bodies can hold the relationship until the hearts, the minds can come back together

but we are blood family with all humans, all animals, all things

so, let’s be friends

may we remember how