All Things Bloom

"Some things aren't ready to stand exposed

and naked in the light.

Some cannot bear the violence of knowing,

the insistence of change."

"the violence of knowing"...Wow to that bit of wisdom.

Until recently, I was not acquainted with this violence.

I am now.  I guess that's what some would call a privileged life.

Being this stage of golden and just discovering this.

I am familiar with the "insistence of change",

as I know you are...intimately familiar.

It's why we cherish the continuity of nature...

the sun and moon and galaxies...

the seasons that we can rely on.

"All you can do is shine on with indiscriminate hope

in trust that all things bloom,

with determined patience that they will."

May we discover two things:  indiscriminate hope and

determined patience.  My hope is that they lay

dormant inside me, ready to awaken and bloom.

Namaste'

PS:  Moudi is a new poet to me.  I'm grateful to cross his path.

When a poem reduces me to deep sobs, I pay attention.  

I'm including his response when I subscribed to his Substack

to demonstrate what draws me to his work.

A deep bow of gratitude from my heart to yours for subscribing to Habibi Means Beloved, a poetry publication exploring themes of belonging and liberation through a contemplative framework of compassion, forgiveness, and awe. My hope is that this work stands as an invitation to remember your unquestionable belonging, that you feel touched in that place in you that resides in wonder, and to then look at all of life through this lens of gratitude and tenderness. Perhaps our hearts may awaken against the backdrop of industrialization, profit, and war, which desecrate the dignity of each other, the land, and all beings. ​​We have been gifted a brief and mysterious life in the wide unknowable universe. So why not honor our place in it, and begin already with the business of grief alongside its joy, seeing each other as the miracles we already are. You can read more about me here, and about my forthcoming books here. With Love, Moudi

 

You Keep Waiting

"The world doesn't need your perfection.

It needs your truth."

These words strike me like lightening,

shaking me up in ways I do not relish.

I start to feel like I'm standing in the courtroom

accused of wrong doing in the matters that matter most to me

and the question repeats:  What is your truth?

So much of what I do these days is about trusting.

And, I confess, that trust is being SEVERELY tested.

That is until I take myself out of feelings of failure, 

fearful imaginings, and terrified expectations into the woods

where the trees stand solid and undisturbed...

(for the time being at least.)

The giant rocks rest steady and strong, for now.  

None of them perturbed

by future or past happenings.

Its all temporary and I'm doing my best.

I remind the accusing voices inside

their job is done...the verdict rendered...

innocent. 

 Handcuffs removed, suspect is free to go. 

The truth as I see it is, I'm here.

For some reason I can't always fathom with clarity;

 I trust that however I find myself operating

matters, even when I can't explain myself properly.

"Making art in the middle of the mess."

Namaste'

 

The Hardest Part

Every line of this tugs hard at my heart.

I could repeat every one and add my commentary

but why do that when its already being said so well?

"A pain that aches so much that you're

not sure you'll ever heal it."

May each one of us continue 

"to breathe and take the steps ...

to face the hardest parts."

May we be mighty in our softness.

May we metabolize our rage into 

constructive corridors of resistance and rebellion.

Our softness is fierce and relentless

with insistance on truth, equality and decency.

We carry on together, step by determined step.

Namaste'

 

If You Are Overwhelmed

"Make the picture you are looking at smaller."

This is decent advice on many levels.

"Bringing it back to the scale

of your own life is the medicine for recovering . . .

Generally speaking, our own life is complicated enough,

yet, while I think this makes good sense,

I have to ask myself if NOT paying attention 

to the big picture has gotten us where we are today?

"Coming back to the scale of being human in community."

It is about humanity and community and might I add nature.

We're all living here together, doing the best we can

to survive, thrive and be decent human beings.

(Most of us are.)

If everyone could recognize and respect

each other as equals,

regardless of the scale, 

we might be able to heal ourselves,

and each other and this world.

We could bring this world into healthy balance.

I believe we're in the process of doing that.

There's still  a long way to go.

We can do this....together.

We ARE doing this...together.

Carry on, I say, and thank you for all you are,

and all you are becoming...for all WE are becoming.

Namaste'

 

What The Mirror Said

"Trust yourself. 

Trust no mirror could ever know the truth of you."

We are not trained to do this, are we?

We are trained to rely on others from the start.

On entities outside of us to provide our reality and sadly,

our definition of ourselves.

There is no way to avoid it given our vulnerability at birth.

You are fortunate indeed when those who

know how to nurture your magnificence cross your path.

They help us to grow and mature and 

discover ourselves for ourselves and then let 

the still voice inside be our guide.

That's my perspective.  

It takes a measure of time to grow a person.

"There are whole mountain ranges of wonder inside,

no mirror could ever show. Go wander and swim

in your own wilderness until you don't need

[this mirror] anymore."

Namaste'

 

Believe

"It remains only for you to recognize and acknowledge who you are, 

what you know and the powerful presence that is awake within you."

This is the fierce truth of this moment.  

We all know who we are and how we want this world to be.

We know it in our bones and it is not what is happening

in the world around us.

We are who is needed 

to correct the course.

Each of us in our own way....

together.

"Believe in yourself.  

That is all you need to do.”

Yes, believe in yourself, however,

All is NOT well.  

But it is on its way to being so.

because of us.

Namaste'

 

May All That Has Been

Isn't there so much noise in today's world?

It requires enormous concentration to 

stay aware, 

be informed, 

and pay attention 

against the constant deluge 

of cleverly constructed ways to shift your focus

to something someone else wants you to see, feel and think,

and most typically, to pay them for.

Did you know Nikwasi means the place of stars?

I did not.  Allow me to share this excerpt:

"the geographical locations of the Middle Towns—including the villages of Watauga, Cowee, and Nikwasi—along the Little Tennessee Watershed. The geographical pattern of the villages is astronomically organized, a kind of star map. If you had been a Cherokee in the village of Watauga, gazing up into the sky in the season of the Snow Moon, or what Europeans call December, you would have beheld with crystal clarity the seasonal unveiling of our galaxy, the Milky Way, painted across the sky just above where you knew Nikwasi, the star town, would be.

Taylor, Stuart. Retracing the Keowee Trail: A Deep Map of the Cherokee Path in the History of the Carolinas (pp. 164-165).

I've lived here over a quarter of a century and did not know this.

This is the music I relish and revere deep in my bones.

Do I gaze out at the night sky and witness the majesty

of the universe? I can count on one hand how often.

Due to my DNA, I'm completely spent by sunset 

and fast asleep by nightfall.

However, I'm just now realizing that since my body clock

gets me up in the predawn hours I could take myself outside

and witness the glory then.

I can hear the music warming up as I write.

Plus, I've heard the owls sing at that time in the morning

so the music is layered, intricate and astonishing...

All I need to do is look up and listen.

"May all that has been reduced to noise in you become music again."

And may you find yourself singing your heart out.

Namaste'