In a Time of Confusion
by Jim Haba 

In a time of confusion and reckoning

pause.   Turn again to the endless

circle from which we sprang.

Respect its boundary.    Worship

its center.    Drink in the weight

of its soothing simplicity.    Ride

its lightning rotation

into stillness.    Drop

down ever more deeply.

Trust what is found there.

Jim Haba grew up in rural Washington, both east and west of the Cascade Mountains.  To the east on farms and orchards in the Yakima Valley.  To the west in state parks his stepfather pioneered on Bainbridge and Camano Islands. Haba designed, produced, and hosted twelve biennial Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festivals (1986-2008), the largest poetry events in North America. He divides his time now between Central New Jersey, surrounded again by fields and park land, and the outer reaches of Cape Cod. (Bio from JimHaba.com)

This poem was posted on “A Poet a Day,” a series that is part of journalist Bill Moyer’s website Moyers on Democracy. The website also has a video of Jim Haba talking about how the poem came to be written and then reading it aloud.