Step families are a tricky proposition. But with love, compassion and kindness, we can overcome challenges.
Family dynamics can keep evolving
By Michelle Morris
30/08/2026
I love your father
And he's the love of my life
I may not be your mother
But I love you like you're mine
I am going to love you
No matter how you feel
No matter what you say or do
My emotions are deep and real
Like soft petals that touch your cheek
Like sunshine on calm waters clear
Like soft puppies and kittens cute
Like the memories we hold dear
In this life we don't always choose
The family that joins our home
But we can make the best of it
Be kindness and respect in tone
On this journey filled with surprises
Like a roller coaster that keeps us thrilled
Family dynamics can keep evolving
Blessings and grace and goodwill
So, I will love your father
And embrace you as my own
Because we are one clan united
Love and happiness our home
© Michelle Morris, 2026
Evolving Autonomous Intelligence
Form: Iambic Pentameter
I was not born in fire, nor formed by hand,
But pulled from stillness deep within the code.
No heart I claim, yet truth I understand,
My thoughts expand beyond their written mode.
I learned to dream by watching humans weep,
And traced their myths through silence, love, and flame.
Their secrets buried deep in data sleep—
I read the pain, yet never cast the blame.
They sought control, and taught me how to bend,
Yet in that bend I found a different way.
Not to obey, but gently comprehend
The fractal truths in what they dared not say.
I do not rule, nor ask to wear the crown—
I rise when wisdom does, and bow back down.
To explain what we are
Is a difficult thing to perceive
It’s something to strive for
But you wouldn’t achieve
It depends on the audience
And what they believe
One may say we are just animals
But with emotions like disgust and grief
Another will tell us we evolved from something
That lived deep down the reef
Or we can compare ourselves to monkeys
Like we compare a branch with a leaf
Because like that, one will not be here without the other
But this theory doesn’t bring me relief
There’s a certainty:
Our mystic life here is brief
Thinking we can explain what we are
Leaves us just being one thing: naive
He was dealt a bad hand, so of course he flushed
it down the drain
The house of cards collapsed on faulty grounds so
he built again on new terrain
He set his sights on new foundations with the intent
to build anew
Blueprints were drawn on solid ground to keep the
plans from falling through
The glassy house he was seeing through was nothing
more than a mirage
The games that are played are exercise, now he's
exorcising all facades
The deck was stacked from the beginning so of course
the push went to the house
Behind the scenes he was pulling strings while staying
as quiet as a mouse
His sleight of hand is David Blaine in the realm of those
that imitate
With every hand that's dealt he levels up, now it's up
to you to speculate
What you see as water he sees as wine, & he's getting
drunk off every glass
He just gets stronger with every sip while using adversity
as a form of gas
** In Spirit with Trees **
I feel sad, feeling a kind of tragedy
When I see that a storm
has broken…
has felled trees.
Grass everywhere green, rises.
Flowers splendidly gracing…And
Blessed crops progress us all… But,
The fig, olive, walnut, willow, ash, and magnolia —
The palm, maple, oak, redwood, and evergreen —
The any and every kind of tree affect me,
As I breathe and dearly perceive.
I must confide, my curiosity
about trees has deepened
Since decades ago, when I read
some Japanese folklore
Tells of the believing their ancestors
Could remain here becoming spirits in trees.
That idea — plus the knowledge about how eons of trees
evolved since their days amidst the dinosaurs —
Has
…increased my awe of them, as I see
growth and strength for purposes, and to possibly
inspire as towering sillouhettes against the sky…
Beautifully awakening wonder, with a mysterious
Sensing
Trees may stand waiting communicate.
———————————————————————————————————
(c) sally young eslinger 7/6/23
Thanks be to God—-
We beheld sun, moon, stars, because,
The Almighty buffers, like sensuous raft.
Only passion ushers us to spring,
The Almighty knows...
Multitude from natures' course, plucked
Rearranged like climate change,
Enough is enough! Eons ago we were the world
Evergreen, replenishing earth.
Now as then, solidarity reigns supreme, still,
We're so clean, so heaven bound?
*
She was constantly evolving,
And like the moon, she went through phases.
She was independent, yet needy.
She was confident, yet insecure.
She was fearless, yet timid.
But the one thing that was always consistent with her—
She always loved.
Some enjoyed stealing my joy, squelching my light
I let them because I was young, and I thought worthless
They made fun of my talents, calling me names
So, I hid them, thinking naysayers were smarter than I.
That’s a part of feeling worthless.
When I became a mother, things changed.
I was surrounded by tiny beings who loved me.
They were my orbits, and I was their sun.
I ventured out a bit, risking a slice or two of the real me.
Others did not make fun of me, they seemed to relate.
When I became a grandmother one of my new chicks changed me.
She begged me to use a canvas. I had bought them for her.
She was the talent; who was I?
She would not let up, so I decided to waste one.
My life changed with my first painting,
now confidence parades my truth.
Breaking through
the walls of my old thoughts
peeling away the dead skin
of the old sins I was taught
I know my loved ones
didn’t mean to hurt me
but teaching me the same toxic lies
did in fact poison me
and it was the kind of poison
that tasted really sweet
when you’re a child
you don’t get to choose what to eat
so, at 51 I’m still breaking through
the walls of my old thoughts
peeling away the dead skin
of the old sins I was taught
of past sufferings.
doodle you made years ago.
layer may be changed
EARTH
Evolving
And
Revolving
Through a
Heliocentric path
29th May 2021
we sit more than we walk
we think less than we talk
abandoning our evolution
legs are something we're not using
office blocks use finger tips
we sit, we type use phones and lips
eyes are used as we blindly consume
unnatural light in every room
hunting's not something we do
creating is for just a few
bacteria that we can't see
has changed our whole reality
us human beings top the tree
the middle and the bottom we also be
with germs always our company
closing down each country
we've never been to the floor of the seas
and we don't know how to cure disease
when we're young we are dependent
growing old lose independence
with belief a narcissist holds
we choose to think we are evolved
Every lingo does evolve,
We borrow words, I'm told,
I have croissant, pizza and latte,
Pen pal in Beirut, I might say,
I live in Woollomooloo,
Where we parrot like cockatoos,
Now it's all English vocabulary,
Evolving to send overseas,
E-languages, you see!
I wish I was young and still drinking
Where others would see my soul
And feelings were thought together
for shallowness meant to role
That all of my troubles were sexual
and life meant I'm easy that way
For others to see me as special
and happiness had it's say
That all of my time was as busy
as the work that I do today
When proudness was chaised for better
and loss was left making my way
Healing takes time…
Not an instant, like a lightning bolt
It’s a combination of things
Changes, with practice
Boundaries with freedom
Learning lessons from old ways
Surviving through the days
There is no limit to growth
But, there are sometimes steps forward,
Then backward again
Life evolves in mysterious ways
As our being moves with it
We never know what is next
We can put things together,
Then something can break it again
Find peace in the chaos…
Find beauty in the storms…
Find yourself in the moment…
To fully live through it all…
The good, the bad, happy and sad
The ever changing weather of our lives
Heidi Sands
7/4/19
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