In celebration of National Poetry Month, I am inviting several poet friends to join me in my daily endeavor of paying poetic attention to the world. This week I am sharing the practice with my dear friend Maya Stein, poet of The Creativity Caravan. Maya is one of the most generous writers/teachers/humans I know. Follow her on Instagram at @mayastein, and check out her #100day project for daily doses of wit and inspiration.

the part of you
that lets the light in
also leaves some of it out,
like eyelets, wafting
in the afternoon wind.
may we find the grace
to face what we’ve kept
in the shadows,
so that welcoming the light
might also mean learning
to hold tenderly the contours
of what lives in the dark.

photo and poem by katherine ferrier ©2017

Is there some fire
you ache to sit by?
Some subsonic lilt
of the ocean that keeps calling
your name? And if you dream
of love, is it the oyster
or the pearl inside it?
There is no wrong answer,
but if you don’t know what
you want, then we’re both
done for.

photo and poem by Maya Stein ©2017