gratitude

Yesterday, when I was facilitating an online Zoom meeting with other group therapists, I asked people, “What’s hard to say?” after sharing my poem “Hard to Say.”

Hard to Say

Some things in life are hard to say,

Like “I want you to go away.”

Or “Despite what you did, I forgive you, okay.”

Or “I need you, my love, to stay.”

For me, I find it hard to say

A different kind of communiqué,

Two words you’ll see in a candy display,

Ferrero Rocher.

Ferrero Rocher, Ferrero Rocher.

That gets stuck in my mouth along the way.

Ferrero Rocher, Ferrero Rocher.

So easy to eat and so hard to say.

Ferrero Rocher, Ferrero Rocher,

Those chocolate orbs wrapped in gold lamé.

Whether I’m home or going away.

So easy to eat and so hard to say.

© Ann Koplow, 2019

What’s hard to say is

• what people really thought about that poem,
• when this pandemic will be over,
• how much chocolate I’m going to eat during this pandemic,
• WTF is going on in the world, and
• when we’ll all feel safe enough again.

It’s hard to say what I loved most about the charming 2012 French movie “La Fée (The Fairy), which I watched yesterday, so I’ll share these quotes from reviewers:

“Its appeal is … in watching people who have devised their own original style of comic performance and have taken it to a rare level of refinement.”

If you like Tati-esque japes, Francophone clowns Abel, Gordon and Romy should be just up your alley.”

“It’s simultaneously a very knowing and strangely innocent film.”

“A little bitty movie with a great big heart that is nearly impossible to resist.”

“It’s often a lot of fun with some dance numbers thrown in.”

It’s hard to say what would be better, for me,  than “a lot of fun with some dance numbers thrown in.” I also loved that somebody who was granted three wishes found it hard to say what his third wish would be, even when “I want us to be safe!” was an obvious choice to me.

What’s hard to say about these images I captured yesterday?

It’s hard to say why our cat Oscar tried to steal Michael’s pasta primavera, which was completely vegetarian.

What’s hard to say about this dance number from “La Fée”?

What’s hard to say is how I’m going to express all the gratitude in my heart, here and now.