The truth is that creativity is much more about combining
the self-discipline to tolerate ambiguity
with the will to transform the results into something meaningful.
It’s not really contradictory;
it’s largely an issue of intentionality and attention.¹

I

"Time is the illusion.
The presence is everything."
Arlu read Tuco's note again.

He said he's ready to do.
She has no idea what that meant.
Tomorrow she can ask him in person.

She replayed the song "Chasing Cars"²
and wondered if his meaning rested in that line,
"If I lay here, if I just lay here,
would you lie with me
and just forget the world."

"We will do it all, everything
on our own. We don't need
anything
or anyone."

She considered recently read phrases and slogans,
"Hope is Not a Strategy" and
"What if is worry,
If then is action."

Ah, Tuco, she thought,
my cowboy poet
riding tall,
riding slow.
But always riding
with intent
and attention
though this ambiguous land.

She knew he'd be home soon.
And, as always, present.