Grace ~ A Poem by Forrest Hamer

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Finding Sunlight in the Shadows: The Resilient Spirit of Forrest Hamer’s “Grace”

Can a single flower bridge the gap between the sting of loss and the warmth of a mother’s laughter?

Grace

Forrest Hamer

This air is flooded with her. I am a boy again, and my mother
and I lie on wet grass, laughing. She startles, turns to
marigolds at my side, saying beautiful, and I can see the red
there is in them.

When she would fall into her thoughts, we’d look for what
distracted her from us.

My mother’s gone again as suddenly as ever and, seven months
after the funeral, I go dancing. I am becoming grateful.
Breathing, thinking, marigolds.

Source

Forrest Hamer’s “Grace” is a poignant meditation on the persistence of love and the sensory nature of memory. Through the vivid imagery of marigolds and wet grass, Hamer captures the “flooded” air of a presence that remains long after a loved one has passed. The poem moves from the heavy silence of a funeral to the rhythmic liberation of a dance floor, illustrating that grief is not a static state, but a fluid transition toward gratitude.

In today’s hyper-digital society, we often rush through mourning, pressured to “move on” by the relentless pace of our digital lives. “Grace” reminds us of the necessity of being present. Like the speaker who finally sees the “red” in the marigolds, we are invited to find “grace” in small, breathing moments. In an era of disconnection, Hamer suggests that healing comes when we allow the natural world and our physical senses—breathing, thinking, dancing—to reconnect us to the spirits of those we have lost.

Tags: Forrest Hamer, Grace Poem Analysis, Grief and Healing, Mindfulness, Contemporary Poetry

As you read this poem, ask yourself: In the noise of your daily life, what “marigolds” are calling you to notice the beauty hidden within your own journey of healing?

From Impossible to Ideal: Building a Future That Matters

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Most people watch the future happen; the valiant ensure it happens for the better.

Victor Hugo once wrote:

“The future has several names. For the weak, it is impossible; for the fainthearted, it is unknown; but for the valiant, it is ideal.”

Which name are you giving your tomorrow? It is easy to look at the world’s challenges and feel small—to label change as “impossible.” But being a force for good isn’t about having all the answers; it’s about having the courage to believe that an “ideal” world is worth building.

To be a difference maker is to refuse the comfort of the sidelines. While the fainthearted wait for a sign, the valiant create one. You possess a unique set of talents that the world desperately needs. Whether it is mentoring a peer, advocating for a local cause, or simply practicing radical kindness, your actions are the bricks and mortar of a better future.

Impact isn’t measured by the scale of the stage, but by the depth of the commitment. When you choose to be valiant, you stop fearing the unknown and start shaping it. You become the evidence that progress is possible. Today, stop asking what the future holds and start deciding what it will look like because you were here.

3 Ways to Live Valiantly Today

  • Identify Your “Ideal”: Write down one specific change you want to see in your community. Clarity is the first step toward action.
  • Micro-Advocacy: Find one person today who needs support or a voice. Small, consistent acts of service build the “valiant” muscle.
  • Audit Your Influence: Spend ten minutes reflecting on how your daily choices—where you spend money, how you speak, and how you lead—align with being a force for good.

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” — Peter Drucker

Flexible Eating: Why the Flexitarian Diet is the Ultimate Longevity Hack

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What if you could reap the life-extending benefits of a vegetarian diet without ever saying goodbye to your favorite Sunday roast?

Use these questions to prep your mindset:

  • True or False: You must strictly avoid all red meat to follow a flexitarian diet. (Answer at the bottom of the Post.)
  • True or False: Research suggests that flexitarians typically have a lower body weight than frequent meat-eaters. (Answer at the bottom of the Post.)

The Best of Both Worlds: Why Flexitarianism Wins

You don’t have to choose between your love for a juicy steak and your desire for vibrant health. Imagine a lifestyle where “plant-based” doesn’t mean “plants only,” but rather “plants mostly.”

The flexitarian diet—a marriage of “flexible” and “vegetarian”—is gaining massive traction, and for good reason. Unlike rigid regimes that leave you feeling deprived, this approach focuses on adding nutrient-dense plants while keeping high-quality animal proteins as occasional guest stars.

The Major Benefits

  • Heart Health: By prioritizing legumes, nuts, and seeds, you significantly reduce your intake of saturated fats and cholesterol. Studies show this can lower blood pressure and decrease the risk of heart disease.
  • Weight Management: Flexitarians tend to consume more fiber. Fiber is the “secret sauce” for satiety, helping you feel full longer and naturally reducing your caloric intake without counting every bean.
  • Diabetes Prevention: A plant-forward diet improves insulin sensitivity. Transitioning away from processed meats helps stabilize blood sugar levels and can lower the risk of Type 2 diabetes.
  • Environmental Impact: Even “part-time” plant-based eating reduces your carbon footprint. It takes significantly less water and land to produce plant proteins than animal products.

Ultimately, the flexitarian diet isn’t about what you’re cutting out; it’s about what you’re gaining—energy, longevity, and the freedom to eat without labels.

Answers:

  1. False: The “flex” in flexitarian stands for flexibility! While it encourages plant-based choices, it allows for moderate amounts of meat and animal products.
  2. True: On average, those following a plant-forward or flexitarian pattern have a lower BMI because plant-based foods are generally lower in calories and higher in fiber.

“A healthy outside starts from the inside.” — Robert Collyer

This is for informational purposes only. For medical advice or diagnosis, consult a professional.

Writer’s Prompt: Why You Should Never Cross an 80-Year-Old with a .38

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Lydia Johnson loved two things: her poodle and her wine. Tonight, she’s out of wine and someone took her dog.

Writer’s Prompt

The streetlights in Oakhaven didn’t illuminate; they leaked a sickly yellow pallor onto the cracked pavement. Lydia Johnson killed the engine of her Buick, the silence hitting her harder than the hospital’s antiseptic stench ever could.

The air felt thin, scorched—like bread forgotten in a toaster.

She stepped inside. The silence wasn’t the peaceful kind she enjoyed with a vintage Merlot. It was heavy. It was hollow. Buttons wasn’t there. No manic skittering of claws on hardwood, no high-pitched yaps. Just a square of notebook paper resting on the mahogany coffee table like a shroud.

You want your toy poodle back, it will cost you $1000.

Lydia didn’t panic. Panic was for the young, for those who still thought the world owed them mercy. She poured a glass of Cabernet, then another, the red liquid staining her lips like a bruise. At eighty-two, her heart was a clock with a frayed mainspring, but her hands were steady.

She walked to the hall closet and pulled down a dusty shoebox labeled Arthur. Inside, nestled against his silver watch, was a snub-nosed .38 caliber. It felt cold, heavy, and honest.

She checked the cylinder. Six rounds of copper-jacketed insurance. She slipped the steel into her cardigan pocket, the weight pulling the fabric taut.

“What are they going to do to an eighty-year-old woman?” she whispered to the empty room.

She stepped back out into the humid night, the address on the back of the note burned into her mind. She saw the shadow of a man standing by the corner store, watching her. Lydia didn’t flinch. She just reached into her pocket and rested her finger on the trigger.

How does Lydia’s confrontation end? Does the shadow belong to the kidnapper, or someone far more dangerous? Finish the story.

Light for the Journey: From Rejection to Resurrection: Seeing the Open Door

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We spend so much time mourning the doors that slam shut that we miss the golden opportunities swinging open right behind us.

“Often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.” ~ Helen Keller

Reflection

The Perspective of Progress

We often treat a “closed door” as a final verdict—a sign of failure or a lost future. We stand in the hallway of our lives, staring at the wood grain of what used to be, paralyzing ourselves with “what ifs.” But as Helen Keller reminds us, life is never a single-entry room. While you are busy mourning a rejection or a finished chapter, a new opportunity has already swung wide nearby.

True resilience isn’t about forcing open the doors that have locked; it’s about having the peripheral vision to spot the sunlight streaming in from the next room. The energy you spend grieving the past is the energy you need to step into your future. Don’t let your focus become your cage. Pivot your gaze, acknowledge the ending, and then walk through the opening that is waiting for your arrival.

Something to Think About: Is there a “closed door” in your life right now that is distracting you from a new, perhaps even better, opportunity standing right beside it?

once like a spark ~ A Poem by e. e. cummings

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The Electric Architecture of Connection: Decoding E.E. Cummings’ Spark

In a world defined by digital distance and social labels, what does it truly mean to “meet” another human being?

once like a spark

e. e. cummings

(once like a spark)

if strangers meet
life begins-
not poor not rich
(only aware)
kind neither
nor cruel
(only complete)
i not not you
not possible;
only truthful
-truthfully,once
if strangers(who
deep our most are
selves)touch:
forever

(and so to dark)

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The Illusion of Categories

In contemporary society, we are conditioned to categorize people instantly. Within seconds of meeting someone—or more likely, seeing their digital profile—we slot them into boxes: political affiliation, job title, or social class. Cummings’ lines “not poor not rich / (only aware)” challenge us to perform a radical act of un-learning. He suggests that these labels are not just secondary; they are barriers to the “spark” of life itself. When we interact through labels, we aren’t meeting a person; we are meeting a category.

The Mirror of the “Stranger”

The most profound shift in the poem is the parenthetical: “(who / deep our most are / selves)”. This is a psychological masterstroke. Cummings is suggesting that the “stranger” is not an outsider, but a mirror of our own deepest, unexpressed humanity. In a society that often feels polarized and divided into “us vs. them,” this poem reminds us that the “them” is actually the “us” we haven’t met yet.

Presence Against the “Dark”

The poem ends with a haunting juxtaposition: “forever / (and so to dark)”. In our fast-paced world, we often treat time as a commodity to be spent. Cummings treats time as a landscape of impending shadow, where the only thing that achieves “forever” is the moment of authentic touch. Whether that touch is physical, intellectual, or emotional, it is the only “truthful” thing we possess. In an era of fleeting notifications and temporary trends, the poem calls us back to the permanent value of being “only complete” in the presence of another.

As you read this poem, ask yourself: When was the last time I looked at a stranger and saw a part of myself instead of a difference to be judged?

The Honey and the Hustle: How to Prepare for Your Next Big Impact

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We often wait for a “sign” to start making a difference, but what if the adventure is already standing at your front door, waiting for you to simply look the part?

Sprucing Up for the Adventure of Impact

A.A. Milne once wisely noted through the lens of a certain honey-loving bear:

“When you are pretty sure that an Adventure is going to happen, brush the honey off your nose and spruce yourself up as best you can, so as to look Ready for Anything.”

Being a force for good isn’t always about the grand, televised gestures. Most often, it is a series of small “adventures” in kindness, advocacy, and service. However, to meet these moments, we have to be intentional. We have to “brush off the honey”—the distractions, the comfort zones, and the sticky complacency of “just getting by.”

To be a difference-maker, you must cultivate a state of active readiness. When you “spruce yourself up”—not just physically, but mentally and spiritually—you send a signal to the universe that you are available for assignment. You become the person who notices the neighbor in need, the colleague who needs a word of encouragement, or the local cause that requires a leader.

Your life is the greatest adventure you will ever lead. By preparing yourself to be a vessel for positivity, you transform your environment. Don’t wait for the perfect moment; simply clean off the sweetness of your current comforts and stand tall. When you look “Ready for Anything,” you’ll be amazed at how many opportunities to do good find their way to you.

3 Ways to Improve Your Life Today

  • Audit Your “Honey”: Identify one comfort or distraction that is holding you back from being productive or helpful, and intentionally set it aside for an hour each day.
  • The “Ready” Ritual: Start your morning with five minutes of intentional breathing or visualization, seeing yourself responding to challenges with grace and strength.
  • Micro-Acts of Service: Look for one “small adventure” today—a simple task like picking up litter or sending a thank-you note—to prove to yourself that you are a man or woman of action.

“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.” — Muhammad Ali

The Gin and the Ghost: A Noir Flash Fiction Noir

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Willie Perez was ready to pull the trigger on himself until a woman with soul-piercing eyes gave him a reason to pull it on someone else.

The Last Rung on the Ladder

The gin hit the soil with a pathetic hiss, the dying fern soaking up the rot like a sponge. Willie Perez watched the fronds curl, mirroring his own spine. He felt the cold, heavy comfort of the .38 Special in his palm—a heavy piece of lead-lined silence that promised an end to the ringing in his ears.

Then the door groaned. No knock. Just the scent of expensive jasmine and cheap desperation.

Elana Sanchez didn’t walk; she invaded. She slammed two gloved hands onto his scarred mahogany desk and leaned in. Her eyes weren’t just dark; they were gravity wells, pulling Willie’s shattered psyche toward an event horizon he wasn’t prepared for.

“You the PI that specializes in teaching lessons?” she asked.

The air in the room vanished. Willie was a dead man ten seconds ago, but Elana was a different kind of ghost. She held his gaze with the predatory stillness of a boa constrictor, her presence tightening around his throat until the gun in his hand felt like a toy.

“Depends on who’s buying,” Willie rasped, his voice sounding like gravel in a blender.

“I’m not buying, Willie. I’m recruiting,” she whispered, sliding a grainy photograph across the desk. It showed a man Willie recognized—a man who should have been buried three years ago. “He thinks he’s safe. He thinks the lesson is over. I need you to show him he’s still in school.”

Willie looked at the photo, then at the .38, then back into the abyss of Elana’s eyes. The choice wasn’t between life and death anymore; it was between one kind of hell and another. He stood up, the weight of the gun shifting from his temple to his holster.

“Where do we start?”

Elana smiled, and for the first time, Willie realized the snake doesn’t just squeeze—it swallows you whole.

The trail is cold, and the target is a ghost. Does Willie find redemption in the shadows, or is he just pulling the trigger for a different master? Tell us how the lesson ends.

Light for the Journey: Beyond the Surface: Discovering the Hidden Depth of Your Life

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Stop measuring your worth by what you can see in the mirror; your true potential is a horizon that keeps expanding.

“You are more than you appear to be – Life is greater than you have ever known it – The best is yet to come.” ~ Ernest Holmes

The Unfolding Greatness Within

We often move through life defined by our current roles, our past mistakes, or the physical boundaries of our daily routine. But as Ernest Holmes reminds us, you are fundamentally more than you appear to be. Beneath the surface of your “ordinary” day lies a reservoir of untapped potential and a consciousness that is far more expansive than your current circumstances suggest.

If you feel stuck or limited, realize that you are viewing life through a keyhole. Life is significantly greater than you have ever known it; there are dimensions of joy, connection, and success that you haven’t even brushed against yet. This isn’t just wishful thinking—it’s an invitation to expand your expectations. Your current peak is merely the base of the next mountain. Lean into the mystery of your own capabilities and trust the process. Keep your head up and your heart open, because the best is yet to come.

Something to Think About:

If you stepped away from your current labels and limitations today, what version of yourself would begin to emerge?

The Courage to Be You: How Authenticity Fuels Positive Change

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We spend our lives trying to fit into boxes built by others, yet the world’s greatest problems aren’t solved by “fitting in”—they are solved by those brave enough to stand out.

Leo Buscaglia once said:

“The easiest thing to be in the world is you. The most difficult thing to be is what other people want you to be. Don’t let them put you in that position.”

These words are more than just a call for self-love; they are a blueprint for becoming a force for good. When you are exhausted by the performance of meeting everyone else’s expectations, you have no energy left to serve. You cannot pour from a cup that is filled with someone else’s tea.

Being a difference maker starts with the radical act of reclaiming your identity. When you step out of the shadows of “should” and into the light of “am,” you unlock a unique set of talents that only you possess. The world doesn’t need another carbon copy of a “successful” person; it needs your specific compassion, your unique humor, and your individual perspective on justice.

When you refuse to let others define your boundaries, you give everyone else permission to do the same. That is how a movement starts. By being unapologetically yourself, you become a lighthouse for those lost in the fog of conformity. True impact isn’t about being perfect; it’s about being present and real.

3 Ways to Improve Your Life Today

  • Audit Your “Yeses”: This week, identify one commitment you made solely to please others. Politely decline or phase it out to reclaim time for your true passions.
  • Identify Your Core Value: Choose one value (e.g., kindness, courage, curiosity) and make every decision based on that, rather than social pressure.
  • Speak Your Truth: Share an honest opinion or a creative idea you’ve been holding back. Authenticity builds genuine connections that fuel collective action.

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

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