Morning Routine
discipline, like joy,
is a matter of focus
but also conditions.
i lift my eyes out of the great,
looming dark, work my hands
into the foaming water,
return my senses to a shared
& honest body.
its signs & signals
give themselves over to me
in every degree, daily & readily.
the presence of the Lord
nearer to me than my own form.
in Communion / of the Body,
we witness & bear
our semi-reliable memory,
our more reliable song,
& the constant process
of being changed by each other.
talking it out.
loving & moving it through.
By Terra Oliveira
Biography:
Terra Oliveira is a multidisciplinary writer and visual artist from the San Francisco Bay Area, and the founding editor of Recenter Press. Their work has appeared or is forthcoming in The American Poetry Review, Bamboo Ridge Press, Protean Magazine, Paperbark Magazine, and elsewhere, and they were the Artist-in-Residence at the Schoolhouse at Mutianyu at the Great Wall in March 2017. Their ancestral lineages come from the Azores, the Hawaiian islands, Southern China, and throughout Eurasia. You can find them managing a bookstore in the North Bay, and on Instagram @terraoliveira_.