poetry

Story Behind the Poem // day 7

~ Tracy Erler ~ 4 Comments

Day 7 “in the shade”

I wrote today’s poem on my lunch break outside of the a client’s new job site. A grocery store has been waiting been waiting many years for this new location and today was opening day. My client regularly works on Fridays and so I was there to support him on a day where the community showed up and shopped, to help become adjusted to a new environment.

As a job coach, a little less this summer–this year in general–due to COVID-19, I can spend all day in my car. For lunch and breaks. It’s my office. And I am forever looking for shade, to park my car in because we will spend hours at the same location. I’ve learned that not very many parking lots have good shade. I still look for it everywhere I can haha

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Story Behind the Poem / day 5

~ Tracy Erler ~ 3 Comments

Day 5 “a worry”

This is something I’m wondering a lot lately. We’re all navigating the impacts of COVID-19. Being a human in a non-quarantined world is hard enough and now we’re managing emotions and feelings while wearing masks and not seeing all of our people regularly.

My hope, my prayer, is that we can offer grace and love and kindness to those around us and on the Internet.

My hope, my prayer, is that we can give people the benefit of the doubt.

But I also worry about it too.

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Story Behind the Poem // day 4

~ Tracy Erler ~ 1 Comment

Day 4 “a hope”

Yesterday’s haiku, “social distancing”, was a bit of a downer. Both versions. But I need to remember that it has taken me months to wrestle with these emotions.

(Fellow Californians, Day 138 of the state-wide shelter-in-place is coming to end as I post this. But, who’s counting?)

With today’s hakiu, I really wanted to take those specific things in yesterday’s poem and literally translate the hope in each of those.

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