Monday, November 28, 2016

maintaining joy



I heard a wise woman say "Maintain Joy."

So, however many days I read the newspaper
real news not fake news
meeting intelligence, 
meeting idiocy,
meeting greed,

I maintain joy.



However many days I feel despair 
about our humanity and its relationship to water and the water protectors,
about our humanity and its lack of responsibility,
about greed in the corporate world visibly merging with our very own US president, 
((my president, not my leader))


I maintain joy.

However many times in a day my mind wanders to compare
this to that
then to now
now to then
her to him
me to her
me to him
me to them,


I maintain joy.


I have retrieved the golden ball
from inside the murk of my deep.
As I integrate this golden sphere into myself
I breathe through the dark
I see through the dark,

Maintaining joy.



Saturday, July 16, 2016

where we sit

Writing
To express feeling
To celebrate that I am able to feel.
To let myself live in this natural way.
The human life is astonishing to witness.

Loving
To express feeling
To celebrate to feel so much love
For this one man and for so much of everything else.
I let myself live this love in a most natural way.

Listening
Oh, the birds in the morning
Singing through the light filled leaves.
Day after day
They do what is most natural, 
without witnessing.

Cooking
Oh, the beauty of that soup
summer green.
A touch of pesto
In a vegetable broth
whole new onions
basmati
and young zucchini.
I imagined I was sitting in a local restaurant in Italy.
He confirmed that where we sat certainly was not Italy,
it was in fact, our backyard.

We sit together
And it is astonishing

That we are what we want.

Monday, April 11, 2016

spring cleaning

I see all that has come my way, all the things, caught here in a tide pool, full of memories.

Given the chance to appreciate one thing, I can let go of more.

Monday, March 7, 2016

the touch of communion

I sit in the morning 
with the quiet and my man,
stirring into a new day.

Light streams on to the trees
Filling the shadows with warmth.

Birds breakfast on night’s silence.

The touch of communion is in the air.


The fast has been broken.

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

putting it in words

when my own words

- read a day
or days
later -

give me chills
i have to take note,
receive this response
and keep writing.

there is a particular listening quality in those whom i write to.
they are most often women
sometimes they are men who have listened to the mystery
and recognize the cadence,
the fragrance,
the hum.

i don't write for them,
that would be presumptuous.
i write for myself
to hear what is down there deep in the silence of this human heart.

oh,
what the heart holds....

we are all listening for it.
this i am sure of today.

we are listening for the heart to have its say.


Sunday, January 3, 2016

mary oliver



to pay attention 
is our endless
and proper work.


mary oliver