Ode to Little Things

Ideas start out very weak and vulnerable. To grow they must be nurtured. To survive they must be protected. But instead, they are often ignored, left to fail, and die. They will most likely be ridiculed, beaten down, possibly accepted, misinterpreted, and forgotten. Finally, they will be rediscovered and become the new norm.

Ideas are born unaware of their potential for greatness. They only know what they can and must do. The person who gives birth to an idea is often as surprised as anyone else when the greatness of the idea becomes apparent to all. An idea can become a poem, a story, an essay, a speech, an artistic expression, a solution to a problem, an invention, a hypothesis, a discovery, a philosophy, a religion, a vision, a dream, or just about anything. It can even become a love. Like our universe, it starts as a singularity and spreads outward until it fills all space and time, at least that which is between our ears.

Most of the poems in this book are about the little things that make a world, things that we might miss just because things we thought were more important demanded our attention at the time, or things that might become important some time hence. But the importance is not just a function of utility. It may also be an aspect of love, life, or existence.