On my desk is a stick.
It’s smooth-polished by the tumble of lake and stone.
It just might be marked by beaver teeth,
making it very Canadian.

I hand-picked it from a lake in the Mt. Carleton Provincial Park.
I held a few in my hand before I found a good length, a silky polish, a ‘right’ feel.

It’s a prayer stick
and the idea belongs to my friend, Pix.
She found a stick
(perhaps it found her.)
And, as she wandered the beach,
she thumb-walked up the stick,
each thumb move a prayer.
When she reached the top she flipped it over,
more prayers.

Giving simple presence.
that’s all
that much,
giving simple presence.