owning great chunks of who I am

how much butter over how much bread?

my therapist suggested: “You’re spread too thin,”

and at times I do feel like Bilbo, “like butter over too much bread,”

yet more I feel that I barely tap my strengths and my loves,

I love connections, communities,

I center my world around each individual student,

and I also push and push to find larger and larger connections

for them, for teachers, for alums, for family,

I use my eye and my camera to hold the twinkle in kids’ eyes,

and the sweep of their worlds,

to hold flowers and waterfalls and sunsets, and great trees,

to hold otters and bears, and a heron taking flight,

I collect Native American artifacts, petrified wood,

six vertebrae from a long-gone moose,

a plaster of Paris bear print,

I write poems to hold moments,

to hold people,

to chronicle my journey,

I garden and cook and share the bounty,

I feel called to follow my passions, to use my strengths,

rather than being spread thin,

I feel I am owning great chunks of who I am.

by Henry H. Walker

September 24, ’15