My daughter recommended a book to me the other night, Charlie and Me by Mark Lowery, and it’s been a remarkable read. A book that’s just as suited for 10-14-year-olds as it is to 40-somethings like myself. I like the poetry woven throughout, and this “shape poem” called Sand Dune rung especially true.

SAND DUNE

A Shape Poem

my
brain’s
a sand dune,
thoughts like tiny
jumbled grains of sand
piled up into a hairy mountain.
And sometimes the weight of it becomes
too great so that one of the grains slips and tumbles,
dislodging others and dragging them downwards in a chaotic
swirling mini-avalanche that briefly changes the shape of everything,
until later, when a gentle gust of wind eases across the dune, filling the holes
and smoothing out the drifts until the dune is reshaped and peaceful once again.