<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="text-align: left; margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; min-height: 9px;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class="">How to Stop the Old Conversation</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""></span></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 4.5px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; min-height: 15px;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""></span><br class=""></p><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Go out on a winter’s day<br class="">
and take the winding boardwalk that snugs up against<br class="">
white sands and the slender grasses of Asilomar beach.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; min-height: 12px;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">See the power of the Pacific surf, waves breaking, <br class="">
then building, almost too close to shore today,<br class="">
so even the wooden planks solidly placed seem to sway as you walk.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; min-height: 12px;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Smell your growing weariness — </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">a sudden rainfall and you’ve left the umbrella in the car,<br class="">
a slight glance at the man and his dog passing and your toe catches a rock,<br class="">
a request to snap a picture and your memory goes back fifteen years,<br class="">
then twenty, then thirty, until you land on what seemed like solid ground,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; min-height: 12px;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">only to find all the promises broken now.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; min-height: 12px;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Set the timer for thirty minutes to walk out, then return, in consideration</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">for the long drive home and the coming storm and your mind, <br class="">
which sometimes forgets where the car is parked and where you started.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; min-height: 12px;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Return to the lodge, search for dry socks and the water bottle,<br class="">
queue the book-on-tape, watch bridesmaids in orange hurry in from the rain, <br class="">
then wonder why a young couple rushing past has missed the wedding.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; min-height: 12px;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Invite your own particular aloneness to sit in the seat beside you,<br class="">
its breath alive with heartbreak and fury and sweet regret, <br class="">
and as you drive away let the soft words of a new conversation </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">slide in through the open window — </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; min-height: 12px;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(20, 25, 35); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""><i class="">just listen</i>.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; min-height: 15px;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""><b class=""></b></span><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 36px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">- Jackie Huss Hallerberg</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; min-height: 15px;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""><b class=""></b></span><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; min-height: 15px;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""><b class=""></b></span><br class=""></div></body></html>