Noble Next-door Neighbors

Collaborative coexistence in close quarters

The next-door neighbors
disagreed about the plants.
Will they work it out?

Warped War-Waging

Is coexistence a crude contest, a competition on combat ground?
Or is it more like a challenge in a full class on school grounds?

Oh, coexistence!
Will we rise to the challenge?
Difficult. Crucial.

Wars waged ‘round the world.
Sadly we humans forget
that we’re all neighbors.

Winged Woodshop

Nature has models,
healthy ecosystems thrive.
Help each other live.

To lift our neighbors
with the flapping of our wings.
Will we heed the call?

Hello, new neighbor!
Slender body, sneaky moves.
Welcome, garden snake.

Wise Watering

We may cultivate our virtues in solitude,
but it is in relationship, in community,
that the harvest may feed a multitude.

Our vitality
comes from neighbor yards’ harvest.
Single ground, solid.

Our fertility
comes from neighbor yards’ compost.
Common ground, sacred.

We-With

As we treat the most vulnerable among us, we define
who we are, how we are, and what we deserve.

We’re with you, neighbors,
across borders, across seas.
We do not judge you.

We’re with you, workers,
unfairly fired, dismissed.
We do not blame you.

We’re with you, leaders,
who defend the land from greed.
We do respect you.

Wondering

Could peaceful coexistence be possible, perhaps?

Could we earthlings learn to commingle, communicate, connect, collaborate constructively, compassionately, creatively,
even, or especially, in circumstances and conditions when confronting conflict?

Could we try to commune in community, in congruence and consonance
with our better values, virtues, voices, visions, missions, along with those of others?

If so, perhaps our neighborhoods and planet still have a chance of becoming ‘home sweet home’ for everyone.

Wish Working

May our shared values be sufficiently strong.
May the soil of our common ground be sufficiently fertile.

May we count on clarity, calm, courage
to communicate constructively and coexist compassionately.

May we figure out, before time is up,
the elements, the equation, for conservation, for co-creation,
for coexistence, for cooperation, for communing in community.

A fitting formula in the crafting of coexistence likely calls for consciousness, conscientiousness, consistency, patience and persistence. Plus…

Thanks,

Susan Nordin

:
attention with intention,
energy, effort.

Accepting what is
as is, with love, compassion.
Starting with ourselves.

Worthwhile

Wouldn't it be wiser, to coexist, cooperate, collaborate,
with conscience, intelligence, reverence?
—The proof is in the consequence.

Naive, ingenuous, deluded are we?
—We may be visionaries, noble revolutionaries,
rejecting, renouncing, questioning the cult of the zero sum.

Within Neighbors

Angst and Awe. Fear and Faith. Grief and Glee. Gore and Grace.
Terror and Trust. Gone and Growth.

Sour and Sweet. Side by side. Share space. Take turns.
So it is. Still tough.

Wake

Neighbor, brief reverie featuring a lizard

Neighbors: Same, Similar, Different, Unique, a short essay inviting reflection

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