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Invitation to Poetry: Wings Spread

Welcome to our Poetry Party No. 5.  These are posted every other Monday.  I select an image and suggest a title and invite you to respond with your poems, words, reflections, quotes, song lyrics, etc.  Leave them in the comments and I’ll add them to the body of the post as they come in along with a link back to your blog if you have one (not required to participate!) Feel free to post the poem along with my image below on your blog with a link back to this post.  Invite your readers to come join the party too.  Community poetry is

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October 8, 2007

Artists Speaking About Their Art

I am honored to be included in this compilation of quotes by artists speaking about their art as a part of a grant project to explore creativity and spirituality.  Some intriguing words for reflection found there, not to mention links to some fabulous artists’ websites.  Click on over to find some inspiration. How would you articulate the connection between your creativity (whether visual, literary, movement, music, etc.) and your spirituality?  Feel free to answer in the comments below or provide a link back to your blog if you post a response there.  I’d really love to hear your responses. -Christine

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October 6, 2007

Autumn Day

Lord: it is time. The huge summer has gone by. Now overlap the sundials with your shadows, and on the meadows let the wind go free. Command the fruits to swell on tree and vine; grant them a few more warm transparent days, urge them on to fulfillment then, and press the final sweetness into the heavy wine. Whoever has no house now, will never have one. Whoever is alone will stay alone, will sit, read, write long letters through the evening, and wander along the boulevards, up and down, restlessly, while the dry leaves are blowing. -Rainer Maria Rilke

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October 5, 2007

Happy Feast of St Francis

I went back to read what I wrote last year and found that it expresses pretty well what I want to say on this day we celebrate one of my favorite Saints, so here’s a slightly edited and updated version: Francis is known for many things, his life of poverty, his commitment to peace, and especially his great love of animals and all creation. He is often depicted with creatures at his side and this feast day is celebrated with a “Blessing of the Animals.”  I remember attending such a service when we lived in Berkeley with our previous dog Duke.  There in the pews

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October 4, 2007

What Do I Offer? What Will I Leave Behind?

I walked along the beach yesterday afternoon and discovered brilliant white oyster shells scattered across the sand, tumbled smooth by the waves and brought to shore in an offering from the sea.  I began picking up the ones that seemed to be calling to me, until my hands and pockets were overflowing with treasure. I brought them home, not sure what I wanted to do with them — perhaps put them on my altar that is slowly growing along the windowsill framing my view of the water.  Or maybe use them in some art by incorporating them into a mosaic piece.  But mostly I

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October 3, 2007

Autumn Spirituality & Some Fun

My friend Rachelle at Magpie Girl has another zine available, this time in celebration of autumn.  Since we’re in a writing group together I got to preview the contents — her beautiful essays about celebrating different sacred autumnal feasts and festivals such as Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, Ramadan, and an act of remembrance for 9/11, absolutely scrumptious fall recipes, and oh yes, a poem and photo by me (thanks for including me in your beautiful project Rachelle).  Go to her Etsy store to order yourself a copy, it is a limited run so hurry on over for a dose of autumn splendor. 

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October 2, 2007

The Dreams of Your Body

About five years ago I had the privilege of witnessing a pod of humpback whales in Alaska.  They were bubble feeding which is this marvelous choreographed effort, where the whales swim in a circle to create bubbles and disorient a school of fish.  Then the whales dive down deep and then come straight back up out of the water with mouths wide open catching a mouthful of fish.  Watching them dive and rise I felt their longing and was lost in their beauty. Last week I read a post at Velveteen Rabbi about embodied trust which has lingered in my imagination. 

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October 1, 2007

Longing for Beauty

“In one way, of course, God has given us the Morning Star already: you can go and enjoy the gift on many fine mornings if you get up early enough. What more, you may ask, do we want? Ah, but we want so much more–something the books on aesthetics take little notice of. But the poets and the mythologies know all about it. We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words–to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into

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September 30, 2007

Full Moon Blessings

About a month ago I shared a dream I had about renting an art studio space with wide windows onto the sea.  My spiritual director said my psyche was insisting on more space for my art.  I wasn’t sure how to respond.  I love making art out of my home and as I did a cursory search of art studio spaces in Seattle I knew that didn’t feel like the spacious response my soul was longing for.  Then somehow I came across a listing for a beach cottage near Poulsbo, about an hour away, in part by ferry, right on the Hood Canal.  The

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September 26, 2007

Poetry arrived in search of me

Poetry And it was at that age… Poetry arrived in search of me. I don’t know, I don’t know where it came from, from winter or a river. I don’t know how or when, no, they were not voices, they were not words, nor silence, but from a street I was summoned, from the branches of night, abruptly from the others, among violent fires or returning alone, there I was without a face and it touched me. I did not know what to say, my mouth had no way with names my eyes were blind, and something started in my

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September 25, 2007