“Thanks.”

Today I just said, “Thank you.” It wasn’t planned, or an epiphany, just a simple, unexpected moment of gratitude following a weekly household chore, when I suddenly felt a thank you for the words, for the ideas that pop in from the ether, the character revelations,  the unexpected detours, that strange vision of people in a poem that 2012 October. For the winding path that leads to a poem, at last, at last.

I didn’t let myself think about when the next “yes” might come, or the number of rejections I might weather in between; if there would be enough money next week or next month or next year; of the days when a chair and a desk and a laptop feel like a hair shirt because the sun is shining and spring is breathing its softness through a window; or a poem is brewing an ache in my bones and I am restless with a restlessness that can’t be explained; when being a writer is lonely and I’m tired of misused apostrophes and misspelled words.

Today I just said, “Thanks.” For words, and the chance to share them. Really—so many thank yous, still to come.

How about you? Have you said “Thanks” for the gift of words lately?