Polymorphic

By Liz Shine

If you should come across a bear
while hiking, they say
make yourself large, menacing.
This trick also works for
watercooler flirtations,
the man who always interrupts
in meetings to say
what you said, only better.
 
To avoid ever being a fish
out of water, carry
water at all times,
great pools of paradise
where you can swim
through moods, because
some days it is just so
much work to breathe.
 
Be like buds in spring
when you feel like being
that, or be a snail,
or a storm, or a star.

Liz Shine is a teacher, writer, editor, and writing coach. She is a founding editor at Red Dress Press, based in her home of Olympia, WA. Her Substack Make Time is her gift to writers like her trying to magic time in this crazy, busy world. You can see more of her writing at lizshine.com and find her on Instagram {@lizshine.writer} cooking, traveling, and in other ways seeking moments of awe.