The More You Notice

So many things happen in a day, sometimes it’s hard to take it all in. Most of time, we just notice what grabs our attention, and these days, it’s mostly the stuff on our phones, reels after reels of mostly trivial stuff that are forgotten the moment we jump to the next screen. Then there’s the chaos of the rush hour, the cacophony at the office, the endless tapping of keyboards to meet deadlines, and the drama of endless meetings that leaves you totally drained at the end of the day.

What do we miss living like this? Quiet moments of beauty like the fleeting light that is constantly changing, bathing what’s around us in shades of colors and shadows or quirky moments on the street that bring a smile on our face, or the unexpected beauty of things going together imperfectly. When we miss the stuff everyone thinks is not worth noticing, we miss a world within this world, one that is infinitely interesting, as you will see in the gallery of images below captured by street photographers. But first, I like to share a poem of mine, titled (what else?), “Noticing.” I hope you like it.

NOTICING

The more you notice anything
the more the world will
call to your attention
a million inconsequential things
that add up to the riches of our days,
like the wood thrush that sang
off tune this morning, and the
orange-purple splash of skylight,
unusual for this time of year,
or the old man at the park reading
the morning papers without his glasses,
and the jogger with her greyhound,
her lithe frame matching his, or
the cartoon puffs of cloud on
an impossibly blue sky, and two
spaniels – one black, one white
chasing each other in circles, or
the delicious moment when a
lemon yellow butterfly settled on
an ordinary flower riding
with the breeze, lingering there
for what seems like eternity
as though entreating the world
to take notice of it.