Invitation to Poetry: Expanding the Heart in Gratitude (and Book Giveaway!)
November 23, 2009 · by Christine
Welcome to our Poetry Party #41!
I select an image and suggest a theme/title and invite you to respond with your poems or other reflections. Add them in the comments section and a link to your blog (if you have one). Make sure to check the comments for new poems added and I encourage you to leave encouraging comments for each other either here or at the poet’s own blog.
Feel free to take your poem in any direction and then post the image and invitation on your blog if you have one and encourage others to come join the party! (permission is granted to reprint the image if a link is provided back to this post and full credit is given – © Christine Valters Paintner at Abbey of the Arts)
On Sunday, November 29th, I will draw a name at random from those who participate and send the winner a copy of my newest zine: Crossing the Threshold: New Year, New Beginnings.
Book Giveaway!
As a special Thanksgiving to you, my wonderful readers, I also have several books to give away this week – books which somehow I ended up with two copies of each (please look up the titles online for more details). If you’d like one of the books, please post your gratitude poem or list in the comments (see theme below) plus a note of which title you’d like to have. I will cross the titles off this list as they’re claimed, but please look through previous comments in case I haven’t gotten back to my computer since someone claimed one. These are first-come, first-served. All I ask is that in the coming days you extend the generosity to someone else in your life.
The Everday Work of Art by Eric Booth
Living the Creative Life: Ideas and Inspirations from Working Artists by Rice Freeman-Zachery
Creative Awakenings: Envisioning the Life of Your Dreams Through Art by Sheri Gaynor
Entering the Temple of Dreams: Jewish Prayers, Movements, and Meditations for the End of Day by Tamar Frankiel & Judy Greenfeld
Praying with the Body by Roy DeLeon
The Inferno of Dante translated by Robert Pinsky
All the books have now been claimed – but please keep contributing your wonderful poems!
*************************
Poetry Party Theme: Expanding the Heart in Gratitude
In the United States, this is of course the week of our Thanksgiving feasts. I decided to host a Poetry Party here even though I anticipate smaller numbers attending as people travel and cook and clean and prepare. But I am keeping the invitation simple so that you might be able to stop by even briefly to express your gratitude through the beauty of poetic language.
So my invitation this week has two simple suggestions:
1) write a haiku (or several) that captures the essence of a heart-expanding moment for you, something in the course of ordinary, everyday life
or
2) make a list of 5 simple, everday things for which you are grateful.
You are, of course, welcome to write a longer poem as well about the ordinary things which make your heart sing and overflow.
(Photo taken at a fountain in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City)
** The February 22-April 4, 2010 session of Eyes of the Heart: Photography as a Contemplative Practice is now FULL! I will be adding a second session later today to run concurrently with the second session of Way of the Monk, Path of the Artist from April 12-May 23, 2010. **
© Christine Valters Paintner at Abbey of the Arts:
Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts
Posted in Poetry Party Invitation | 32 Comments »
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:55 am
‘A litany’, since you asked:
there comes a moment
usually named a-ha!
and I can let go…
I root myself here
in haikus and gratitude
I rest in holy soil.
2009 gratitude list, written two days ago:
I am grateful when I see a turtle make it safely across a Florida road – or when a motorist stops to help it across
for mother ducks who lead their brood with such clarity of purpose
for restaurant servers – past and present
always for the Sycamore trees
for kind words and gentle, received and offered
for aging; for new life
for corn plants that bloom in November
phone messages on land lines
sonograms
a husband who cleans the tub
appliances that ease housework
the moon, in all its phases
tending; being tended
poetry!
celebrating birthdays – mine and everybody else’s
our first great grand -daughter, arriving toute de suite
answered prayer and prayer that drives me crazy and to my knees
hair dressers; schools for hairdressers
Magnesium
BW photos; photos in color
email; snail mail
printers; scanners
haikus
[The Every day Work of Art]
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:22 am
his birth
pushing pushing pushed, then done
together breathing apart
child drawing circle to close
—————————————————-
The Inferno of Dante
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:27 am
Another ‘litany’
Praise for the warm sun
light through the window
secure and safe in a soft chair,
lap full of a purring buddha
the music of my life aching
gratefully in my ears
and you my friend close
to mind, and heart,
a smile in my eyes and laughter
on my lips.
[Entering the Temple of Dreams: Jewish Prayers, Movements, and Meditations for the End of Day by Tamar Frankiel & Judy Greenfeld]
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:41 am
Gratitude always
A feast for the heart and mind
Breathe in joy and rest!
{Praying with the Body}
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:47 am
Those dreams we make real
can almost allow us to
forgive ourselves
the dreams we have lost
Living the Creative Life would be first book choice. Thank you!
Thank you!
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:50 am
I guess I should have added that I am grateful for the drams that are made real.
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:16 pm
My sisters and I
dance like no one is watching
and my heart is full
First choice: Living the Creative Life
Second choice: Creative Awakenings
Thanks!
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:31 pm
I am grateful for moments of peace during the day when I can read. Electing to leave my car at home and take public transit is one way to carve out time. Hence, my haiku:
the train doors open
pull out my book, find a seat
a reader’s commute
[praying with the body]
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:33 pm
why hello christine
a wonderfuf party dear
i have to go now
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Gulping gratitude
To quell an alarming thirst
My cup flows with love
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:56 pm
As Designed …
I see, and do not comprehend.
Shadow and light create a sense of wonder.
Are they stars? Are they bubbles?
Are they the texture of marble or granite?
The framing darkness is like the human condition -
More is unknown than known.
Are limitations a gift to mankind?
I see and do not comprehend.
Infirmity creates a sense of wonder.
Is there pain? Is there turmoil?
Is this an opportunity to serve?
Why did the other driver pull out in front of her?
More is unknown than known.
Are sufferings a gift to mankind?
I see and do not comprehend.
The vastness of Charis overwhelms.
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:01 pm
A gull hovering –
healed in that moment, aware
of her hesitance
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:51 pm
Christine,
Haven’t chimed in for a while, but here is my lastest poem:
thank you
cynicism comes with coffee
as artificial as sweetener
we’ve grown accustomed
to the bitter aftertaste
negative is normal
critiques and criticisms
pass for conversation in
a culture short on courage
and long on loud
gratitude is hard work
to choose to be thankful
requires the tenacity
of a heart broken open
and willing to sit silently
on a starlight night or in
the shadow of a bee’s wing
the opposite of fear
is thank you — thank you
Peace,
Milton
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:12 pm
The heart of humility
is nourished
by gratitude.
The mind of love
is the source
of gratitude
So song is born
from waves of gratitude
November 24th, 2009 at 12:39 am
garden fountain
this crisp autumn wind
baptizing mums
Bette Norcross Wappner (b’oki)
November 24th, 2009 at 2:36 am
River-floating leaf
quickly swept, submerged, held deep
dancing wet colors
November 24th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
I am grateful for
this breath and then the next one
and then the next one.
November 24th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
She gets unruly with things she don’t wanna do.
Stuck believing her dreams will never come true.
So, Baby, how’d you sleep last night?
Stop hanging on. It’ll be alright.
Let go of the stone in your heart.
But I don’t understand the touch of your hand.
You might think it’s easy being me.
Just stand still and look pretty.
Don’t wanna hurt anymore.
Can’t let go of the stone in my heart.
In every moment there’s a reason to carry on.
Sweet love flowing almost every night,
I’ve never seen such a beautiful sight.
Life is more than memories.
Let go of the stone in your heart.
Sweet surrender’s all I have to give.
Stop hanging on. It’s time to let go.
Dance, Baby, dance – child, wild & free –
Unruly one, come dance with me.
Embracing the stone in your heart.
November 24th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
The unconditional love of a dog.
Words that never bore.
A babies smile in a grocery store.
Storytelling and lore.
the what ifs and what for’s.
November 24th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
Finding my fountain
has always been falling,
I marry the mist.
November 25th, 2009 at 4:38 am
sit
still
silence
sacred
surrender
November 25th, 2009 at 6:01 am
Great blog. Informative and some lovely shots. I teach on a few Photography Holidays around the world and I’ll definitely be recommending this blog to my students who are always asking me about good photography websites!
November 25th, 2009 at 7:32 am
Tails wagging… nonstop
Kisses from the love of their hearts
you’re home again… with us.
November 25th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Thank you, Christine! I played in prose rather than poetry this time, but it was a wonderful experience; despite the fact I’ve been blogging alphabetical thanks every day this November, the reasons for gratitude and joy are countless.
http://desertspiritsfire.blogspot.com/2009/11/poetry-party-41.html
November 25th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Before the words are spoken
I fill my lungs with air
My heart is overflowing
I sing “thank you” everywhere.
November 26th, 2009 at 6:13 am
I went somewhere I didn’t expect this week.
It is a task I have put off
for years and years and
years longer than I should
but now I finally sit
surrounded by piles and piles of
books I want to want to keep
but I also know that,
as much as this one was read
the year my life fell apart,
and that one is from my friend,
and that each has a story
of how I found them
not all will stay.
So I pick each one up and
remember and decide
and the pile by the door grows
and the shelves become
sparser and neater
and I give thanks for the
stories I am recalling
and the new stories
whose space is now waiting
November 26th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Soft fog shroud
Tree tops piercing through
Crisp dawn rising
November 28th, 2009 at 11:02 am
My litany of gratitude is here; at my blog it includes photos
Family ~ at our Thanksgiving Table this year the hands of many were gathered: my parents, my daughters, myself, and the hands of my grandparents who had washed and used the tablecloth, china and silver that graced our table, and the hands of the hundreds who planted the seeds, tended the soil, harvested the produce, cared for and nurtured the poultry, stocked the shelves, and bagged the groceries of all the food we enjoyed. Oh to be blessed by so many hands!
Furry family members ~ life is simply richer by their presence in our lives and home!
Friends ~ near and far, young and old, of just recently and from many years ago, they also enrich our lives!
Faith ~ ever expanding and stretching, grounded and centered, unknown and steadfast!
Food ~ especially that which is grown locally and organically (and I am pleased to add food which is grown by my future son-in-law!), gift of our planet, feast for our senses, delight on our tables!
Indeed I am grateful for what I have. May you be so blessed as well
November 29th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Receive Your Blessings
Maple leaf hand rests on frozen earth
palm up
to receive her blessings
High limbs of the fir tree hold
eagles’ nest
giant cup, empty
to receive her blessings
Clamshell chalice
her whiteness awaits
silver tide
to receive her blessings
Pores of our skin
open their tiny mouths
to receive their blessings
Unfold the layers of your heart
Receive your blessings
Receive your blessings
November 29th, 2009 at 11:24 am
Receive Your Blessings
Maple leaf hand rests on frozen earth
palm up
to receive her blessings
High limbs of the fir tree hold
eagles’ nest
giant cup, empty
to receive her blessings
Clamshell chalice
her whiteness awaits
silver tide
to receive her blessings
Pores of our skin
open tiny mouths
to receive their blessings
Unfold the layers of your heart
Receive your blessings
Receive your blessings
November 29th, 2009 at 11:33 am
ops! sorry to submit twice (now thrice)-thought the first one didn’t go through
December 1st, 2009 at 8:31 am
Hi — “Creative Awakenings” arrived yesterday! Thanks so much! I look forward to reading it over the holiday season.