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Reflections

Category: Poetry

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Always Act Great

Act Great What is the key To untie the knot of your mind’s suffering? What Is the esoteric secret To slay the crazed one whom each of us Did wed And who can ruin Our heart’s and eye’s exquisite tender Landscape? Hafiz has found Two emerald words that Restored Me That I now cling to as I would sacred Tresses of my Beloved’s Hair: Act great. My dear, always act great. What is the key To untie the knot of the mind’s suffering? Benevolent thought, sound And movement. -Hafiz ***Please scroll down to the next post and participate in my

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Freedom: On Being Uncaged

I am so very moved at the poetic response to my post of a few days ago.  I have absolutely loved reading your words and have really gathered them close to my heart and reflected on the meaning of freedom and why the cage can sometimes be so inviting, so comfortable and what it takes to really claim my freedom.  If you haven’t read the latest contributions, please scroll down (or just click here) and relish them. One of the poetic forms I often use with groups is the French Pantoum. It is a delightful and easy form to use,

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Words

After spending much of my summer immersed in both images and words I have been contemplating the relationship between them.  In my lettering class, the teacher began by saying that words are “bearers of meaning.”  I like the image the poem offers, that we come to know things more deeply in naming them.  And while words can feel ethereal or disembodied, it is true that there is something much more intimate about jasper, rather than red stone.  The words help to root us in the beauty of the particular which is what an incarnational spirituality is about. My life is filled with

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Delight Under a Cloudy Sky

“O shy moon don’t give in to the pushy clouds you are above them” -one of the Haiku read aloud at the end of the evening written by a fellow moon-gazer (I apologize for not catching the name) We attended the Moon Viewing event at the Japanese Garden last night and I was entranced the whole evening despite the fact that the moon never fully appeared from behind the cloud cover.   This is an annual event to celebrate the autumn moon (which will be full on Tuesday).  There was beautiful music (I am now entranced by the koto), dancing, singing, launching

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Earth Teach Me

I found this beautiful prayer at The Longer Look:  Earth teach me stillness as the grasses are stilled with light. Earth teach me suffering as old stones suffer with memory. Earth teach me humility as blossoms are humble with beginning. Earth teach me caring as the mother who secures her young. Earth teach me courage as the tree which stands alone. Earth teach me limitation as the ant which crawls on the ground. Earth teach me freedom as the eagle which soars in the sky. Earth teach me resignation as the leaves which die in the fall. Earth teach me

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Picking Blackberries

What will you give for a taste of summer’s last sweetness? This jewelled crown of thorns rings every path and highway; No use pretending you have not heard sweet temptation chatter through the vines- taste    eat Put your hand in the thorns and come out dripping juice, king’s purple spread from hand to tongue. Reach gently, or you will find your thumb full of thorns, and your pail filled with unbearable tartness. Reach gently, but reach. The sweetest berries hide toward the inside, hidden beneath leaves barbed like critics. Balance, if you must, precariously, held by will and longing

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Linger a While

Rather than writing a new post today and burying the Invitation to Poetry I posted on Monday, I invite you to scroll down or click here and re-visit that post with the abundance of beautiful words offered by others and linger for a while. . . A deep heartfelt thank you to everyone who has shared so far. What fun to see how much is evoked in a single image.  Feel free to keep leaving your responses in the comments or by sending me an email and I will add your words to the body of the post.

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