If it rains, carry an umbrella, if it’s cold, wear a jacket.

~ Live & Learn

As soon as the snow melts the grass begins to grow. Even
though the daytime high is barely above freezing, even
though May is very like November, marsh marigolds bloom
in the swamp and the popple trees produce a faint green
that hangs under the low clouds like a haze over the valley.
This is the way the saints live, no complaints, no suspicion,
no surprise. If it rains, carry an umbrella, if it’s cold, wear
a jacket.

~ Louis Jenkins, “Saints” from “Just Above Water: Prose Poems“

Notes: Poem: Thank you Beth @ Alive on all Channels.  Photo: Marsh Marigold in Swamp via nature preserves

31 thoughts on “If it rains, carry an umbrella, if it’s cold, wear a jacket.”

    2. and you remind me of this big flow:

      “Wouldn’t it be nice to be one of those people who doesn’t overthink anything, who just goes with the flow—who lives the unexamined life?” I remember saying that there was a difference between examining and dwelling, and if we’re cut off from our feelings, just skating on the surface, we don’t get peace or joy—we get deadness.

      ~ Lori Gottlieb, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, April 2, 2019)

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  9. Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
    What to do? … JUST ABOVE WATER … ‘This is the way the saints live, no complaints, no suspicion,
    no surprise. If it rains, carry an umbrella, if it’s cold, wear
    a jacket … Louis Jenkins, “Saints” from “Just Above Water: Prose Poems“

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  12. The Marsh Marigolds are blooming along the creek and in our yard (even under the Aspen tree) as I type away…he and the dog walked along the creek this morning he came through the door with a wildflower bouquet: white daisy, fragrant pink wild roses, darker pink clover, purple camas, wild grass, a closed goats beard and petite yellow pea or vetch flowers, so dainty part of the tendrils’ veining blossoms have gone to seed looking just like the edible peas in our garden only so tiny..

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