To GRIPE together can indeed create a sense of community, nay, even a shared, JOINT purpose. Not wanting to seem distant or some kind of SAINT, Bill allowed himself to be drawn into those water cooler chats. But, in truth, he had FAINT reason to complain. Especially as the target of the complaints was the very person who had hired him. He began to dread going to work, feeling the tension build. This new job was not turning out the way he expected at all.

Georg’ann

Marriage is a string of pearls
For years the path was a WEDGE.
It’s placement giving BIRTH
to conflicts incubating over years.
Done, settled. Redone, unsettled.
Over and over, competing
aesthetics and practicalities.
Great expense of resources
for one short curved walkway
toward, or away from, one another.
In its last iterations pristine flagstone
marred by an oil STAIN.

This became a settling stain.
An embrace of wabi-sabi sort of stain.
A stain evoking longevity,
that first layer of patina.
Fading with time, a FAINT reminder.
An irritating grain of sand
from which a pearl grew.

Heather