IT'S TIME

It’s as if you’re an 800 meter runner;
Gun erupting, your legs and lungs are jolted to life.
In that second lap, you approach the corner.
But instead of turning, you dash straightforward ahead,
bursting through the track’s perimeter wall.
“What’s she doing?” the bleachers explode
even as quiet reserves of power deep within you
breach their tranquil moorings;
so much so that ribbons of chain link fence
and giant concrete shards are catapulted skyward
forming a crown over the whole of your being.

Once through the wall, you leave behind
the shoulds and shards of conformity.
all the ways things are, no, were done.
Wind whipping your hair. Eyes on fire.
Happy sweat cooling your glistening brow.
Your heart is racing like a stallion’s.
For the first time, or new “first time”
there are no other runners near you.
you are running the race that is truly you.

Why are you doing this? Because!
No one else sees exactly what you see.
No one else feels exactly what you feel.
No one faces the obstacles you face...real or imaginary.
No one else is impassioned to shatter this particular
moment of time and space in this particular way.
No one else perceives the tiny fissure in the wall of convention
at that precise point where you see it.
No one else senses the surge of power welling up
from your lava hot creative core.

What’s that you promise?
If I will look to the walls that enclose me
I will see cracks where others observe only seamless surfaces.
And when I do, if I check my spirit’s pulse and it’s gone wild
then in that moment of deepest vision
I will know it’s time. It's time to bolt. It’s time to break with.
It’s time to break through life as I’ve known it
and, once again,
become.


We have now ventured past the initial shock and horror of this “novel” coronavirus-defined life. We’re out of the starting blocks and we’ve rounded the first corner of the track. The surreal novelty of this race--which none of us knew we had entered until the starting gun was fired--is quickly wearing off. But one thing is becoming increasingly clear and (Spoiler alert!) it’s bad news: We’re in this for the long haul. Yet something else--something ancient and archetypal--is counteracting that disheartening news. And it’s good news. Indeed, very good news.

We’re seeing one example after another of creativity bursting forth from individuals, community groups, non-for-profits, religious institutions, local businesses, governments and global coalitions--all breaking free of our previous and predictive ways of doing things. We are discovering that no, our’s is not to be a “coronavirus-defined” existence but one in which we will ultimately define (and confine) the virus. Isn’t this what we’ve always done?

Just how will we accomplish this gargantuan goal? By reminding one another of two things: First, creativity isn’t just nice. It’s a necessity. And second,  unlike this particular “wall” of coronavirus, creativity isn’t novel. It’s our nature.