Welcome to our 38th Poetry Party!
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)
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Poetry Party Theme: Summer’s Sweet Slowness
The other day I posted a list on my blog of things whose sweetness should be savored slowly on summer days. I invited you to make your own additions to the list and I really enjoyed reading them. So this Poetry Party is an extension of that theme. This week it will be in the mid-nineties and sunny here in Seattle, very unusual weather for us, weather that demands we all slow down and savor the height of summer days. Summer’s invitation is to linger and and notice the beauty in small things.
If you contributed to the previous list already consider turning it into a poem. Everyone is invited to create their own Ode to Summer’s Gifts!
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© Christine Valters Paintner at Abbey of the Arts:
Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts
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32 Responses
City Summer
fireflies in a jar
on top of the TV
phosphorescent lightning
at midnight
I am really in awe of this outpouring of beauty! I continue to savor each juicy word. Thanks dear poets!
Like watching grass grow
so moves the inner life
in this season.
So sit a spell,
watch some of earth’s
smallest creatures
go about their lives,
and trust the process.
Thirty thousand feet flying up in the air
I am amazed.
I know it is ubiquitous in its commonness
but seeing mountains and cities from above the clouds
never fails to prick my sense of wonder
no matter how many times I buckle up
and put my tray in the upright position.
Ladybug, you do that to me too
every time by happenstance
I see you crawling on stem and rock.
I am amazed.
I know you have a voracious appetite
for aphids in my garden that keep you fat and sassy.
Yet, seeing you immediately lifts my spirits
not only for the service you provide
but also because your presence evokes beauty and wonder in me.
I can then see the trees when before I only looked at them.
Everything commonplace becomes extraordinary.
I claim my birthright as a child of creation
beholding the universe in its splendid diversity.
I delight in it all.
Gratitude comes over me
and I am flush with the warm glow
of an embarrassment of riches.
I am amazed.
What’s the Hurry?
All tell me to hurry up
But what is better
Than sun shining on your face?
Lovely Lady
A lady in red,
spotted in the tall grass.
Small hands eager
to capture summer’s delights.
A yelp of triumph
as the trophy is lifted high.
All come running
to gather round.
Slowly and steadily
she crawls from
hand to hand,
her calm unruffled.
Flying off
with helicopter wings.
The lady in red is
our first love in the garden.
green rosary beads, indeed!
watering, moving in circles around the wildflowers,
scattered in ancient motion with the half-moon
seeds gathered over years
from many places
all with an eye to high desert grace
they make me smile
these willful, resilient, cheerful guys
I sit down on my outdoor futon
under the crabapple
iced tea sitting on the stump
that sports a brilliant orange fungi
growing on the side of it,
to watch it all
in astonishment
Every wedding anniversary in July I try to write a poem for my husband. This is for our 39th. We are so blessed.
Sweet Summer Love
Floating on the old water bed
we rest in the forest peace
of fir tree guardians
surrounding our home
built together
so many years ago
Ours is a summer love
a summer wedding
summer babies
teenage summers
cars coming and going
in the hot nights
then too soon
relatives sleeping in the basement
kids’ summer weddings
Now we put on our summer skins
swim together in the cold silk
of lake and sound
Our summer lips
taste summer wine
taste the miraculous peach soft skin
of our summer grandchild
taste the cherry kisses
of our sweet sweet summer love
“A Summer Day”
Digging my toes in the garden mud,
old blossoms golden yellow are beginning to fade
but new buds appear like a thousand beaming suns.
I lay in the earthy grass, soft green blades tickling my ears,
On the radio, Van Morrison calls me sweet as Tupelo honey
and sends me soaring above the blazing clouds.
In this moment, time goes backwards through all that ever was
while deep down joy penetrates every cell of my body
giving root to the peace and light of knowing.
“Walking in the Waters of the Oceans Love”
Feel the soft waters surrounding your bodies
Embracing its loving refreshing nourishment
Complete oneness
As thy attention is in the moment
Caressing you within its vastness
The sparking water droplets fly about you
Softening all that is
You are soothed in living here
Taking your time along the way
No worries
No hurry
Just full embracement of what is
Right now
Ahhhhhhh….
Breathing is easy
Your eyes are bright and shiny in the waters reflections around you…
All that is beauty is one
It is carried in you, eternally
Always there
The gentle tides
Caress your legs
Bringing you to the Sacred Center
Ahhhhhhh….
Stay…..
Forever….
Constant….
Creation as one….
Slow your pace…
Ever more still…
Ahhhhhhh…
Enjoying this days gifts
Always there
In you
Around you
Ahhhhhhh…..
Revitalizing
Healing all
Peace
Summers quality
Spirit
Loving embraces
Received, Receiving
Inviting in each day
Grateful in God’s Creation