Resume life in Florida
Everything feels fresh
Slide into the silk of summer freedom
Tickle the belly of the creative life.
I have made a commitment to three things: finding time for Blue Space (beach, sky), Green Space (earth, woods), and the responses I have to poets & writers. I seek to discover the art of being.
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
REST #8
Remembering to REST came in handy when the roads grew dark and rain-filled yesterday. I found a way to rest into safe driving.
Rain fell in torrents on I-95
Everyone slowed down, danger imminent
Slowly I rested into trailing a red Honda, letting it
Take me over the wet roads to Jacksonville
Rain fell in torrents on I-95
Everyone slowed down, danger imminent
Slowly I rested into trailing a red Honda, letting it
Take me over the wet roads to Jacksonville
Monday, June 26, 2017
REST #7
Ritual of stone tossed, prayed on with a dream
Elements of water and rock to carry
Streaming into my life, my daily movements
Trusted to remember, to bless, to return
Elements of water and rock to carry
Streaming into my life, my daily movements
Trusted to remember, to bless, to return
Sunday, June 25, 2017
REST #6
Remember how the mountains wound themselves around your heart
Every blue ridge a part of healing your soul in a time of despair
Save those days--they were significant
To the journey you still carry on today.
Every blue ridge a part of healing your soul in a time of despair
Save those days--they were significant
To the journey you still carry on today.
Saturday, June 24, 2017
REST #5
Reserves of energy depleted
Every bone and muscle tired
Signals it's time to slow down
Take the rest I need.
Every bone and muscle tired
Signals it's time to slow down
Take the rest I need.
Friday, June 23, 2017
REST #4
Inspired by the Native American writers I've been reading who use tons of repetition.
Rest in the clouds
Rest in the music
Rest in the coming together of mountain and sky
Early coffee
Early plans
Early packing up and moving on
Sing the song within
Sing the song out loud
Sing as witness to the birth of all
Today.
Today.
Today.
Rest in the clouds
Rest in the music
Rest in the coming together of mountain and sky
Early coffee
Early plans
Early packing up and moving on
Sing the song within
Sing the song out loud
Sing as witness to the birth of all
Today.
Today.
Today.
Thursday, June 22, 2017
REST #3 (Life stories)
"There are stories here made of memory." --Joy Harjo
Responsibility lies in
Each of us to get the memory right
Sell the spirit of it to ourselves, stirred and shaken
'Til it fits neatly into our life story.
Responsibility lies in
Each of us to get the memory right
Sell the spirit of it to ourselves, stirred and shaken
'Til it fits neatly into our life story.
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
REST #2
Rivers of time and attention rolling
Expectations constantly exploding
Seems the message is to let it be
To open to what is and say, "Good Morning"
Expectations constantly exploding
Seems the message is to let it be
To open to what is and say, "Good Morning"
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
REST #1
Remember chaos is always with us
Everywhere, at any time
Sit back, open up, let it flow around you
To rest is to set yourself free.
Everywhere, at any time
Sit back, open up, let it flow around you
To rest is to set yourself free.
Friday, June 16, 2017
Blue Space Moment, South of Atlanta
Driving driving driving...then
...I remember to just look up at the sky. Faded clouds against a subtle blue background.
Breathe! Blue Space.
Amid the busyness and chaos of ordinary life is the Big Sky.
Later, more blue and green space by the Tennessee River. Good to be reminded to rest in the colors and the moment and the lusciousness of life.
...I remember to just look up at the sky. Faded clouds against a subtle blue background.
Breathe! Blue Space.
Amid the busyness and chaos of ordinary life is the Big Sky.
Later, more blue and green space by the Tennessee River. Good to be reminded to rest in the colors and the moment and the lusciousness of life.
Saturday, June 3, 2017
Ode to Browsing the Bookstore
As a final exam, I had my 8th graders write Odes to things from their past. I got a fabulous collection of poems from them including an ode to times with a brother, now off to college; an ode to time with friends without phones in their hands; several that had to do with music: when singers sang alone, when lyrics were sexy, not raunchy; odes to memories of snow and a backyard in Missouri and a home in Kansas and time spent in Louisiana. Over and over my students voiced what so many of us have lost in our lives.
I got the idea for this ode of my own, but didn't have time to write it during that last week of school. However, today it came back full force, and so I dropped everything and wrote it. I didn't spend a lot of time revising -- I wanted it to feel a bit raw, like my feelings about this are. Lately, I am thinking a lot about how things used to be, and attempting to make some changes to accommodate some creativity and energy I may have lost along the way. (Hint: My next post may be called "Why I Have Come to Hate my iPad.")
What does this have to do with blue space or green space? I think the subject of this has an incredible amount to do with space -- how we used to allow ourselves to move through it more freely. Much like my students who used to have slumber parties and conversations and swimming time, without the constant haunt of a text or other communication interfering. We all need more space, whatever form it takes.
And we all need to visit a bookstore.
I got the idea for this ode of my own, but didn't have time to write it during that last week of school. However, today it came back full force, and so I dropped everything and wrote it. I didn't spend a lot of time revising -- I wanted it to feel a bit raw, like my feelings about this are. Lately, I am thinking a lot about how things used to be, and attempting to make some changes to accommodate some creativity and energy I may have lost along the way. (Hint: My next post may be called "Why I Have Come to Hate my iPad.")
What does this have to do with blue space or green space? I think the subject of this has an incredible amount to do with space -- how we used to allow ourselves to move through it more freely. Much like my students who used to have slumber parties and conversations and swimming time, without the constant haunt of a text or other communication interfering. We all need more space, whatever form it takes.
And we all need to visit a bookstore.
Ode to Browsing the Bookstore
There was a time when it was the premiere activity
For a Friday night
Or a Sunday afternoon.
It is what you did with friends. Dinner or lunch,
Then head to Borders to check out the huge selection
Of books and music, perhaps leaving with something
Special, something new, something like Bjork to listen
To in the car on the drive home during a thunderstorm,
Or a new poet or writer you had not heard of before,
But who would become your new favorite
Once you read that first poem, that first chapter,
Drawn by a book cover that was meant to appeal to you.
It was a time when books were just one thing--bound paper-- and
Your friend worked at one of those stores and told
You about the people that came in, what kinds of books
They sought after, how she led them to read the works of
Julia Cameron and SARK. How she would tell you of an author’s
Visit you wished you wouldn’t have missed because
You were working. And it sounded like heaven.
Many times you remember wandering to a bookstore
With friends, maybe whole families, people of all ages,
And it was perfectly acceptable to spread out, some going
To the art books section, the middle grades section, the
Classic literature section, religion, science, magazines.
Somehow you all knew where and when to meet back
In the front of the store,
Or what special reading place you might find your friend’s
Daughter holed away when it was time to leave.
So much changed when the Internet came – amazon.com
To be specific, and then eventually iTunes.
You would read the New
York Times Book Review
to discover new books. Online articles and Facebook notifications
about your favorite artist dropping a new album of songs.
Occasionally you would find a great book in the new books
section
Of the library.
But even now, you don’t look there anymore.
After all, there is a whole wish list of books sitting on
the
Amazon website…you need to honor that, right? And it's so much
easier just to order up the book you want online, walk in, find the shelf,
check it out, email the receipt. Not even five minutes.
Soon enough, Borders became small gift shops with cafes
Hardly what you’d call a selection of books…and then
They just closed right up. Barnes and Noble is still hanging in
there, but even it isn't what it used to be.
When you travel you seek
Out those special bookstores: Square Books in Oxford,
Village Lights in Madison, Indiana,
Parnesseus in Nashville. But that seems to be a vacation
Activity, relegated to that time away from the norms
Of everyday life. A way to pass the time, discover
Something new, a throwback to something that you used to do
On a regular basis without the aid of newspapers
And the Internet, without the desire to sit in a chair
With an iPad
And do it all from there.
3:39 p.m.
6/3/17
hms
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