I don't know about you, but I often sleep walk through my days. Eyes are dulled and life becomes nothing more than what is before me, two dimensional and devoid of spirit. It's a malady that I suspect afflicts us all at different times. Happily, I have not been left alone, for I have a friend who keeps waking me up, showing me that there's a world even in a grain of sand, to use the words of the 18th century poet William Blake. Writing is this friend. Blake's idea was that every object or event points beyond itself to a transcendent meaning. The discipline of writing has helped me "take another look" at what crosses my path, speaking to me in a deeper voice and bringing life back to my eyes. My hope is that as you read poems, mine or anyone's, you too will share in the gift of wakefulness.