70 Comments
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LeighK's avatar

Perfect. I’m smiling.

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Michael Mohr's avatar

...And my curse.

Michael Mohr

‘Sincere American Writing’

https://michaelmohr.substack.com/

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Jeanne's avatar

Friends are

my fulcrum.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Nice!

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Sunny Hochberg's avatar

Is the telegram message you’re adding to very single comment legit?

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

It’s junk. I banished the account.

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Sunny Hochberg's avatar

Thanks!

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Eleanor Anstruther's avatar

Nice

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Bonnie L Samuel's avatar

Yes, it works well. Nice.

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Georgena Felicia's avatar

Bolt of lightening enlightening

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Steve Lovelace's avatar

My wife heard staple instead of steeple. Funny it can work also.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

People are my paper clip...

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Ennavé Institute's avatar

Great! I think this is the central teaching from A Course in Miracles as well!

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Thanks!

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Toni Prehoda Kahler's avatar

I sat with this for awhile, just letting my mind wander around in these four connected words. Each word is so much more than a glance. Meanings lead and follow, while images rise fall in my imagination. There's a kind of brilliance in a short poem like this, plus, I've already memorized it, effortlessly!

Now I gotta look up all the meanings of 'steeple', just to take it as far as I can...

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Thank you, Toni. Maybe look at each line on its own, too, with its own meaning.

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Toni Prehoda Kahler's avatar

Ohhhh, I hadn't done that---ohhh man, yes! I am truly wide open...you flooded me just now...wow...

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Amanda Wald Rachie's avatar

Wow! A sublime 6 seconds.

When I do what I learned as a child, folding my hands together, reciting "Here is the church and here is the steeple," and ending with "open the door and see all the people," there are 6 people in my hand church. I remember clasping my hands in a different way with my fingers on my knuckles and finishing up with, "open the door, where are the people?"

I listened to "Humanism" before reading it. Because I'm a little hard of hearing, I was puzzled by what I thought I heard:

People are

nice people.

Adding a comma:

People are

nice, people.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Those commas are powerful!

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Felix Purat's avatar

That must be a pretty big steeple.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Hahahahaha!

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Kathy Morefield's avatar

Wow! So short but so huge!

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Thank you, Kathy.

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Cynthia Gaylor's avatar

I thought of that hand thing kids do- Here's the church , Here's the steeple, Open the doors , and there's the people 🙂

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

I thought of that, too!

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Kate Bradley's avatar

May I put it on a t-shirt with credit to you? I love it; the title word isn't necessary. Thanks!

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Sure!

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Tara Penry's avatar

From the voiceover: “I think this one does it.” I agree. 🥳👏

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Thank you, Tara.

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