The Day Mary Oliver Died

Finally got a chance to watch the documentary on Mary Oliver this week.

How do you begin to thank someone who has brought such goodness into our world?

Listening to young students talk about what her poetry meant to them

was one of the most moving moments, among many.  She was truly remarkable.

"How would the sharp praise of her voice shape that long, 

slow exhale of becoming what so astonished her?"

May we keep her words alive in our hearts.

 

How Guarded Is Your Heart?

 

Still Safe

"I am still a container, not a spill."

Good heaven's, it is disturbing to consider what 

some people are going through simply to live on this planet.

"...holding my breath to see if the air is still mine."

To live with such precarious circumstances 

lives only in my imagination...or it did until I read these words.

"Human's are the only things here that aren't made of stone."

Wasn't sure I agreed until I realized, I'm not where the author is...

it might very well be true where she is "subtracting the minutes

she's lived from what is left.".  

 

What A Human Most Needs

"a knowledge of the most (s)he can do without,

and of how to get along without it."

This quote got me through some "without" times

in unexpected and appreciated ways, recently,

and I was grateful to have read it when I did.

We are so groomed to obtain whatever we need...

not much thought goes into doing without.

Although there are those who do not have the choices

some of us enjoy and that number seems to be growing larger.

Wendell Berry has my respect and admiration for the legacy 

he's left behind.  Rest in Power, indeed.

 

Bound For Glory

 "we are feminists because we dream of being fully human."

Honoring Gloria's life and what she accomplished.

Frayed and Nibbled Survivor

Aren't we all "frayed and nibbled survivors in a fallen world"?

On this Equinox, a day of equal light and dark,

I dedicate this post to Annie Dillard who put

words together in stunning arrangements

of complicated and unexpected beauty.

"I am not washed and beautiful, in control of

a shining world where everything fits, but instead 

am wondering awed about on a splintered wreck I've come to care for..."

every word speaks of reverence for the magnificence of our Earth

in all its tattered glory.

May this Autumn Equinox bring us closer

to actual equality for all.

 

Let It All In

 Let It All In

Let it all in

the habitual scurrying thoughts 

about how best to use this time 

the space heater warming the chilled air 

of this October morning.

the facebook post remembering my brother 

absent on earth since 2017..dead at age 47

My mother's sister...left earth yesterday

a few days short of her 99th birthday.

Let it all in.

the stack of books awaiting my eyes

the pile of yarn awaiting needles and my fingers 

the watercolor supplies for the online painting lessons 

with my daughters and granddaughters. 

the candle softly swaying in the corner in the center of 

my circle of women sculpture 

next to the "wild unknown" tarot cards

today's card is "the storm"

yesterday's was "the thread"

Let it all in.

the thoughts still scurrying 

although calmer now 

the lightening sky...

no vivid colors of sunrise 

rather a soft steady dispelling of the darkness 

revealing the autumn colors of the trees 

alive on Black Mountain across the pasture... 

the chipmunk hoovering the bird seed 

strewn on the deck railing...for the birds.

Let it all in

 the email from my sisters 

the text from a nephew

Heather's email spelling out the state of our country...

her words a grim reminder of ugly forces

Rosemerry Trommer's daily poem

"Because Last Night I Dreamed of You" 

her words a marvel to my soul

My own post about "joy strewn everywhere"

Let it all in

The river of life alive in my mind... 

carrying me places I have yet to discover.

I don't want to miss one moment of it 

even as it slips so swiftly away 

leaving traces and fragments 

carrying me perpetually forward 

with or without my regard.

KAStilwell 2022