Box of Poems

BOX OF POEMS

When we first moved to Silver Lake (Los Angeles), we had no idea we were moving into a community of fairly like-minded people. In the 90s, we read our first article about this special place in one of the national food magazines. It claimed Silver Lake as one of LA's "hippest" areas. Our next door neighbor laughed when we showed her the article, and declared, "Oh, again?" We had already garnered this title many years before. It wasn't new.

Why am I writing this? Well, nearly every week, for the past few  years, we've noticed a bright red box, filled with poems. At first, we thought it was a real estate box in front of a home for sale. Then we saw the words, Poems - Take One. We took the first one we saw.

Now, as we walk by, we stop and read - and if significant to us, we do take one.

This morning we picked up this gem of poetry, written by Syd Banks:

Let your mind be still,

for the wisdom you seek is like that

butterfly over yonder.

If you try to catch it with  your intellect,

it will simply fly away.

On the other hand, if you can still

your mind,

someday, when you least expect it,

it will land in the palm of

your hand.

For more information about Poems Box, please see this story by Christy Hobart, written for the Los Angeles Times, here.