Out walking

I ask myself

How do I look?

Aging white woman

short brown hair

sticking out

in odd directions

average height

casual dress, no makeup

body on the sturdy side

but I carry my years well

still functional

still smiling

and still mothering

endless children

 

But today

looking out

from inside my eyes

at the rainy hills

and the wet road

and the gentle people

it strikes me

It’s not how I look

that is important.

It’s that I look,

and how I do that looking.

That is the Fact

and the Act

that is Sacred and

Most Wonderful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s not how I look

 

Out walking

I ask myself

How do I look?

Aging white woman

short brown hair

sticking out

in odd directions

average height

casual dress, no makeup

body on the sturdy side

but I carry my years well

still functional

still smiling

and still mothering

endless children

 

 

 

But today

looking out

from inside my eyes

at the rainy hills

and the wet road

and the gentle people

it strikes me

It’s not how I look

that is important.

It’s that I look,

and how I do that looking.

That is the Fact

and the Act

that is Sacred and

Most Wonderful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s not how I look

Trudi Lee Richards

Author, poet, Spanish-English translator; Activist and community builder. Member of the international Community of Silo's Message (www.silosmessage.net) and its Portland, Oregon and Red Bluff, California communities (www.RedBluffPark.org) Published work includes "On Wings of Intent, a biography of Silo," "Soft Brushes with Death, a Jorge Espinet Primer," "Fish Scribbles," and "Experiences on the Threshold - with Silo's Message." Also publisher and editor of "Human Future," an independent review published in San Francisco, California, from 1989 to 1996. Mother of five grown kids/stepkids and five step grandkids; Long ago graduate of Stanford University; Lives in Portland, Oregon.