for the curious...
Curiosity
Instead of “Don’t touch that!!”
Why not “Be gentle”
For if we never touched, we would never get to experience
The smoothness of a glass figurine
The flames of a campfire
The feathery petals of a tulip
The damp skin of an earthworm
The brittle pages of an old book
The pigment of a painting
Our skin is our largest organ in which we sense the world
So, if it does no harm
Reach
Out
And
Feel the world
((Be gentle with it))
My three year old
wants to build with every type of block,
wants to dig in every inch of sandbox,
wants to feel slime in between every finger,
wants to create in every medium,
wants to befriend every being,
wants to fly.
My ten month old
wants to taste every food,
wants to explore every inch of the house,
wants to dance to every kind of music,
wants to feel every new texture,
wants to move every second of the day,
wants to walk.
I watch them and remember what it's like
to experience everything for the first time,
to chase everything that is joyful,
to be in awe of everything,
to want to share every discovery,
to turn over every stone,
to be curious.
I long for the radical
the robust and the wreckless
the relentless
curiosity of my youth
Singing and dancing in the rain with my mother
Making mud pies with my sister
Learning how to cook eggs
Never leaving home without my blanket and teddy bear
Using crayons on any surface in the house
Communicating with tears
Communicating with laughter
Communicating without a care in the world
curiosity
wonder
amazement
children discovering
life
something innate
we see it
babies find
fingers and toes
kids touching
slimy things
joy
laughter
shivers
smiles
facial expressions anew
excitement
life lived
Lord, let me be
curious
like that
again
Curiosity is a threshold
Into life, more life
A mother and daughter just walked
By our house on the walking path
On their way to the elementary school
Walking hand in hand
The daughter looks elementary size
They are walking very slowly.
Are they listening to and chatting
About the symphony of bird songs
All around?
Are they captivated by the
Ducks on the pond they are
Walking by?
Are they curious about what
Each of their days are going to
Be like?
I’m curious if their day will be
A day were curiosity will flourish?
I’m curious about all the people
Who I see walking on the
Path by our house.
I wish them well, I
Wish them Peace and all good
The raindrop on the cottonwood leaf
The rover on Martian soil
The plantain veins uncurled from the plant and tied into knots
The baby dropping her plate again and again
What is water, and what is the Martian soil?
What are these veins, and gravity?
May the spark never die.
Questions asked
The response?
“I don’t wanna talk about it”
The result?
Unhealthy curiosity
But, oh, the beauty
A certain strength discovered
In walking the hard road
My own way
In my own time
Wonder
Play
Sensory
Questions
Listening
Exploring
Slow
Attentive
Mindful
Connection
Relationship
Learning
Opening
The intuitive gift who invited
me into a new story…
May curiosity continue to expand
this story big enough and
good enough to hold all of us
The older I get
the more I have to remind myself
to get curious.
Let wonder linger
unclench my hands from
the box of things I know
or rather,
the things I think I know.
-
I often worry
how will I remember
to listen
to open up space
for what the next generation
will offer
will teach
will challenge
will re-interpret.
One thing I know
I don't want to be
like some elders I've known.
The ones so set, so sure,
so right, so hardened, so
afraid
that the only way made
is out
through those big, old doors.
And so
the older I get
may I remind myself
to get curious
and
let curiosity lead and guide
meander, if you will,
with the box opened wide
things in, things out
lid left gloriously behind.
grown-ups = sexy.
kids = nonstop.
cats = bad.
I love this one so much!
I’m loving your poems, Kaitlin. I’m writing some too. 🧡
I want to have to kind of
Open-minded curiosity
Of a child.
The ooo and aww kind
That is only found
In the minds of the young.
I want to behold this world
With the kind of wonder
I once knew.
To hold everything
In the open palms
Of my out-stretched hands.
Waiting for needles
to etch down,
he suddenly asked,
“What makes the ink
that bright color?”
The artist pulled her hair
into a high ponytail,
straightening her back before
responding, “Pigments now,
I believe. Curiously enough,
I was told they once
used shellfish to make red.”
They both spent the session
flavoring the ink in the tattoo-
blueberries from Michigan,
lemon peels left soaking,
cranberries on Christmas trees.
The important thing is not to stop questioning …Never lose a holy curiosity.” Albert Einstein
How long did Curiosity take to get to Mars?
What curiosity on my grandmother’s shelf was holy?
How much passion makes a curious soul?
Is the center of a labyrinth an answer?
How do butterflies pull me from my thoughts?
How do clouds know when I am bored?
How do you polish a mind?
Why does wandering matter more than algorithmic paths?
Why does mystery bring me to my knees?
Why do birds sing of wonder?
I’m curious what will happen
when my liberal daughter
visits my conservative friend.
When namesakes meet
adult to adult
what truths will they value?
when “I worship in the pews”
sits down to dinner with
“I find divinity in the woods”
when “I’m boosted twice”
is invited to the
antit-vax, no masks table
Will curiosity win amid
organic food and specialized diet?
Will listening ears hear
the them of “Nature Heals”?
I’m curious how “Let God plan my family”
will sit with “I don’t want children.”
Will exhausted mother of five at 50
be encouraged by energetic auntie of half that span?
I’m curious about body image therapist
sipping tea with pro-choice journalist
they both love women
both fight against “too much” and “not enough”
deep control and disregard for life
Will these listening hearts seek depths
when shared in a surface world?
Imago Dei
Dignity to all humans
Are they not the same?
Will their lifelong love for me
Hold space long enough
for them to fall in love with
each other
and grasp the essence
of their beautiful personhoods
before idyllically, chaotic home waves goodbye
to wandering vagabond?
Curiosity
Instead of “Don’t touch that!!”
Why not “Be gentle”
For if we never touched, we would never get to experience
The smoothness of a glass figurine
The flames of a campfire
The feathery petals of a tulip
The damp skin of an earthworm
The brittle pages of an old book
The pigment of a painting
Our skin is our largest organ in which we sense the world
So, if it does no harm
Reach
Out
And
Feel the world
((Be gentle with it))
My three year old
wants to build with every type of block,
wants to dig in every inch of sandbox,
wants to feel slime in between every finger,
wants to create in every medium,
wants to befriend every being,
wants to fly.
My ten month old
wants to taste every food,
wants to explore every inch of the house,
wants to dance to every kind of music,
wants to feel every new texture,
wants to move every second of the day,
wants to walk.
I watch them and remember what it's like
to experience everything for the first time,
to chase everything that is joyful,
to be in awe of everything,
to want to share every discovery,
to turn over every stone,
to be curious.
I long for the radical
the robust and the wreckless
the relentless
curiosity of my youth
Singing and dancing in the rain with my mother
Making mud pies with my sister
Learning how to cook eggs
Never leaving home without my blanket and teddy bear
Using crayons on any surface in the house
Communicating with tears
Communicating with laughter
Communicating without a care in the world
curiosity
wonder
amazement
children discovering
life
something innate
we see it
babies find
fingers and toes
kids touching
slimy things
joy
laughter
shivers
smiles
facial expressions anew
excitement
life lived
Lord, let me be
curious
like that
again
Curiosity is a threshold
Into life, more life
A mother and daughter just walked
By our house on the walking path
On their way to the elementary school
Walking hand in hand
The daughter looks elementary size
They are walking very slowly.
Are they listening to and chatting
About the symphony of bird songs
All around?
Are they captivated by the
Ducks on the pond they are
Walking by?
Are they curious about what
Each of their days are going to
Be like?
I’m curious if their day will be
A day were curiosity will flourish?
I’m curious about all the people
Who I see walking on the
Path by our house.
I wish them well, I
Wish them Peace and all good
The raindrop on the cottonwood leaf
The rover on Martian soil
The plantain veins uncurled from the plant and tied into knots
The baby dropping her plate again and again
What is water, and what is the Martian soil?
What are these veins, and gravity?
May the spark never die.
Questions asked
The response?
“I don’t wanna talk about it”
The result?
Unhealthy curiosity
But, oh, the beauty
A certain strength discovered
In walking the hard road
My own way
In my own time
Curiosity
Wonder
Play
Sensory
Questions
Listening
Exploring
Slow
Attentive
Mindful
Connection
Relationship
Learning
Opening
Curiosity
The intuitive gift who invited
me into a new story…
May curiosity continue to expand
this story big enough and
good enough to hold all of us
The older I get
the more I have to remind myself
to get curious.
Let wonder linger
unclench my hands from
the box of things I know
or rather,
the things I think I know.
-
-
I often worry
how will I remember
to listen
to open up space
for what the next generation
will offer
will teach
will challenge
will re-interpret.
-
One thing I know
I don't want to be
like some elders I've known.
The ones so set, so sure,
so right, so hardened, so
afraid
that the only way made
is out
through those big, old doors.
-
-
And so
the older I get
may I remind myself
to get curious
and
let curiosity lead and guide
meander, if you will,
with the box opened wide
things in, things out
lid left gloriously behind.
grown-ups = sexy.
kids = nonstop.
cats = bad.
I love this one so much!
I’m loving your poems, Kaitlin. I’m writing some too. 🧡
I want to have to kind of
Open-minded curiosity
Of a child.
The ooo and aww kind
That is only found
In the minds of the young.
I want to behold this world
With the kind of wonder
I once knew.
To hold everything
In the open palms
Of my out-stretched hands.
Waiting for needles
to etch down,
he suddenly asked,
“What makes the ink
that bright color?”
The artist pulled her hair
into a high ponytail,
straightening her back before
responding, “Pigments now,
I believe. Curiously enough,
I was told they once
used shellfish to make red.”
They both spent the session
flavoring the ink in the tattoo-
blueberries from Michigan,
lemon peels left soaking,
cranberries on Christmas trees.
The important thing is not to stop questioning …Never lose a holy curiosity.” Albert Einstein
-
-
-
How long did Curiosity take to get to Mars?
What curiosity on my grandmother’s shelf was holy?
How much passion makes a curious soul?
Is the center of a labyrinth an answer?
How do butterflies pull me from my thoughts?
How do clouds know when I am bored?
How do you polish a mind?
Why does wandering matter more than algorithmic paths?
Why does mystery bring me to my knees?
Why do birds sing of wonder?
Curiosity
I’m curious what will happen
when my liberal daughter
visits my conservative friend.
When namesakes meet
adult to adult
what truths will they value?
when “I worship in the pews”
sits down to dinner with
“I find divinity in the woods”
when “I’m boosted twice”
is invited to the
antit-vax, no masks table
Will curiosity win amid
organic food and specialized diet?
Will listening ears hear
the them of “Nature Heals”?
I’m curious how “Let God plan my family”
will sit with “I don’t want children.”
Will exhausted mother of five at 50
be encouraged by energetic auntie of half that span?
I’m curious about body image therapist
sipping tea with pro-choice journalist
they both love women
both fight against “too much” and “not enough”
deep control and disregard for life
Will these listening hearts seek depths
when shared in a surface world?
Imago Dei
Dignity to all humans
Are they not the same?
Will their lifelong love for me
Hold space long enough
for them to fall in love with
each other
and grasp the essence
of their beautiful personhoods
before idyllically, chaotic home waves goodbye
to wandering vagabond?