Little Bits of Wonder

To those with young readers in the house and a long winter break looming: The latest issue of my children’s literary magazine, Little Thoughts Press, is out and it’s all about endangered species. You can purchase a print copy of Go Wild! for just $7.50, or download a PDF for free.

Baltimore friends, I will be back at The Womb Room on Monday, December 30th at 7pm for our parents Writing Circle. Come decompress from the holidays and connect with fellow parent-writers.

Big thanks to the editors of DMQ Review for nominating my poem, “While my son rattles on about dinosaurs I contemplate the futility of life,” for a Pushcart Prize! If you’d like, you can read the poem here.

As always, thanks for reading and for all of your support!

Let me view the world with the wonder of a toddler out for a walk on a foggy morning.

The pavement is slick and spotted with tiny puddles. The sky hangs heavy around us. It is warm again now but the cold will soon return. Perhaps there will be snow. A white Christmas. Or the brilliant blue of a freezing day with no clouds to hold in heat, and I will sit by the window and let the sun warm my face.

We tap our toes in the rivulets of water running through a parking lot that holds only a small cluster of cars. We name the cars’ colors. Marvel at the size of a pickup truck’s wheels. We cross the street to wander for a bit among a grove of trees, letting water drip from their bare, spindly branches onto the tops of our heads, shouting, “Oh! Oh!” as we shake out our hair.

Back home, I have to hold him while I make lunch. Have to bring a tissue to his nose again and again, dabbing gently at the raw skin above his lip that is perpetually wet with snot. I have to try twice to get him down for a nap when his coughing keeps him from resting easily the first time. I have to carry him all afternoon and into the evening, because his lack of sleep and heavy congestion leave him feeling tender and extra sensitive.

My back is sore from all this carrying, my body still weak from my surgery, but it does not hurt nearly as much as it would have three months ago and I am reminded again of what I endured for so many years, and my good fortune to be on the other side of that pain.

This weekend we will get our Christmas tree. I am excited to sit in its glow in the evenings. I bought my son a wooden oriole ornament and I can’t wait to give it to him. Hanukkah comes late this year, which means we have been able to push off the holidays to the back-half of December instead of having the entire month devoted to the impossible magic-making of the season. The reprieve has been pleasant, but it’s time for some holiday cheer.

My brother-in-law gifted me a pair of new notebooks when we saw that side of the family for Thanksgiving and instead of holding them as sacred in their newness, I decided to dive right in and use them daily. I’ll write a sentence or two when a story idea sparks in my mind. I’ll jot down an observation or a random thought in the middle of the day. I’ll return from a foggy morning walk with my toddler and quickly scribble out a draft of a poem without any intention or concern about it turning into something more. This is how I most love to write. A random collection of ideas. Small scenes from the story of my life. Little bits of wonder captured on the page.

You can find more of my writing & contact information at clairemtaylor.com. If you’d like to further support my work, please consider purchasing one of my books, or a copy of Little Thoughts Press. I also have a ko-fi page.