Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for October, 2020

Reflection

Posted in Uncategorized on October 4, 2020| 5 Comments »

The way the pond reflects the sky,

that is what I want to do for you—

want to give you the beauty of yourself,

show you your magnificence,

mirror and honor the ways you change.

I want to hold the glory of you,

but not trap you. Want to know your beauty

as part of myself, want to take you into me

and still be true to my own depths.

I want to speak in your colors

and be fluent in your moods,

want to offer you new ways to see

how your presence transforms the world.

What a marvel, to be one thing

and at the same time be another.

I want to be the map that always shows you

you are here. I want to be the shimmering poem

that reminds you who you are.

Read Full Post »

Inner Menagerie

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on October 3, 2020| 3 Comments »

In me, there is a mountain lion

who prowls the streets of town

with her powerful legs and fierce teeth.

She’s the one who smiles at everyone,

and why shouldn’t she?

But inside the big cat is a gopher

who knows best how to hide,

who is grateful no one seems

to have noticed her.

And inside the gopher is an elephant

who has been watching her mother

and grandmothers, aunts and cousins,

for centuries to learn from them

how to survive.

But inside the elephant is a sea squirt

who, attached to one spot,

has begun to eat her own brain

so she won’t have to use it anymore.

And inside the sea squirt is an otter.

She wonders how the rest of them have forgotten

the great joy of running and sliding

on their stomachs, playing tag and chase,

rolling in the water, feeling the sun

warm and generous on their backs.

Read Full Post »

Poetry Readings Recordings!

Posted in Uncategorized on October 3, 2020| 3 Comments »

Dear Friends,

Here are recordings of two recent poetry programs:

for Wendy Videlock’s portion, click here

For Karl Kempton’s performance, click here

for Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer’s portion, click here

For Jordan Abel’s Performance, click here

For an sneak peak at what the whole event was like, click here

and I’ll add the other readings as they become available.

*

Canticle for Creation :
Poetry and Art in Praise of the Earth 
Sunday, October 4 ( the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi), 11:30 am – 1 p.m. MDT

In the spirit of St Francis, a community of a friends offers a  one hour celebration of poetry and art  in praise of the earth and its creatures as a benefit for environmental education. All profits will go to  Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoots, empowering young people to protect our planet and sow the seeds of compassionate action in the world
Suggested donation is $25, but any and every amount welcome.

Featured Poet- Performers include:
Carl Anthony- Kayleen Asbo- Nancy Castille-   Jessica Driver- Rebecca Evert- Lion Goodman-  Taylor Lampson- Hari Meyers- Richard Page- Paloma Pavel- Larry Robinson- Peggy Rubin- Vicky Semones- Sylvia Timbers- Doug Von Koss and Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

To see the recording of this event, visit here

Image by Marie Aguilera, courtesy Kayleen Asbo

Read Full Post »

Things You Didn’t Want to Play

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on October 2, 2020| 6 Comments »

Like Monopoly. Because you always ended up landing on Boardwalk

where the red hotel meant you owed two thousand dollars

and all you had were mortgaged railroads. Or like checkers,

because really, what was fun about moving small plastic disks

diagonally and hearing the other kid say, “King me.” And soccer?

Only because your mother made you because she wanted

to be coach. You did want to play school, but no one else did,

so you were the principal, the teacher, the student,

giving yourself homework, grading it yourself. Writing in red

in your best cursive at the top of the page, “See me.”

You didn’t want to play basketball, because no one else

ever chose you for their team. Even though you were tall.

And you were chosen last for volleyball, too. And t-ball.

And Red Rover. And dodge ball. Is it any wonder your favorite

way to play was to visit the junkyard and find treasure?

Or to walk along the lake to look for flowers and worms?

Is it any wonder you learned to love playing alone

in quiet rooms with an empty page and a pen?

There was no way then you could have known

that it would save you—no, you just thought

you were playing the only way you knew how,

walking through the only doors

you knew how to open yourself.

Read Full Post »

Watching My Response to Barry Lopez

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on October 1, 2020| 9 Comments »

“Sometimes it is what is beautiful that carries you,” said Weasel weakly from his bed. “Yes, it can carry you to the end. It is your relationship to what is beautiful, not the beautiful thing itself, that carries you,” said Grizzly Bear.

—Barry Lopez, Crow and Weasel

           

And so, after years of wanting to be river

and calendula, cottonwood and aspen,

larkspur and evergreen, at last the poet

longs to be herself—longs not to be

what is many petalled nor golden leafed,

not to be what merges with ocean,

what thrives in cold. Rather, she longs

to be the one who might uncover beauty

in the garbage dump, find splendor in the mess.

It is no small thing to want to be yourself.

Look, there she sits in the prison of her thoughts.

See her smile as the bars begin to bend,

watch her marvel as what she thought was a cage

becomes wings.

Read Full Post »

Attuned

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on October 1, 2020| 6 Comments »

I want to meet the world

the way these calendula blossoms

meet the cold.

While everything around them

has wilted or browned,

they lift up their gold and orange faces

like bright earthbound suns—

not with some agenda

to make the world a better place,

but because they are doing

what they are made to do—

to be soft yet resilient,

beautiful and tough,

to carry inside themselves

the seeds for more beauty,

and, when the time comes,

spill them everywhere.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts