qarrtsiluni

from Inchoate by M. G. Stephens

Take care of your side
of the street. Be kind.
Ask how others are,
and listen to their responses.
Listen. Listen.
Stop talking, and listen.
See the stars and moon or,
in daylight, the sky above,
the trees below, the birds.
The birds: listen to the birds.
Listen to what the birds
have to say. Drink green
tea, take walks, read
for at least two hours
every day, write down
random thoughts and ideas.
Eat well. Sleep. Love
yourself and others.
Take care. Be well.

Note: This poem originally appeared in Deadly Writers Patrol magazine.

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M. G. Stephens has published eighteen books, including the novel The Brooklyn Book of the Dead (“a great, great book,” says Roddy Doyle) and the essay collection Green Dreams, which Joyce Carol Oates picked as one of the notable American nonfiction books of the 20th century in Best American Essays of the Century. His poetry frequently appears in literary magazines in the U.S. and the U.K., and he is completing a long nonfictional work about downtown New York in the 1960s.