Beneath It All

Beneath the skitter and rush of

what must be done each

day to preserve our lives, our

health, our money, our children, our

partners, our parents, our

friends,

underneath it all,

if we stop, if we focus,

if we open,

we can feel it let down to us

like mother’s milk,

coming up into us like a spring,

a pool, a river, an ocean.

We can sink into it,

we can float in it,

we can feel the way all we

are and have, our bodies, our

minds, our hearts, are made of that

flow, are that flow,

always happening underneath it

all, above it all, around it all, through it

all, always being made of it . . .

(October 2023)

Susan Strong is a poet, writer, and public educator, who has published on a wide variety of topics for over fifty years. She currently directs The Metaphor Project, which helps activists shape their messages in language that is appealing to a mainstream audience. She is a member of Strawberry Creek Friends Meeting in Berkeley, CA (PacYM).