Enough

". . .enough of the pointing to the world, weary and desperate,

encough of the brutal and the border, 

enough of can you see me, can you hear me,

enough I am human. . .

enough of the animal saving me, enough of the

high [low] water,

enough sorrow..."

She manages to squeeze so many incidents a person

can identify with, it leaves me breathless and wrung out

even to read it.

And then the gut punch of an ending.

"I am asking you to touch me."

What human, animal, plant, rock isn't hungry for touch?

These words shook me deep in my solar plexus.

Deeper yet,  into that cavern of spirit some call a soul.

A place even a surgeon can't find.

Words can do that, I realize.  Bravo to Ada for proving it to me.

 

Instructions For Having A Soul

This is remarkable.

"from time to time, let it kneel in a place that is holy,

like the simple cathedral of the willows."

Or your favorite spot in the woods, at the river,

in your vegetable garden, a wildflower patch,

a graveside of a loved one, 

next to a puddle mirroring the sky...

make sure to note your own reflection.

"All it wants is to live, to keep becoming."

Stretch ourselves even the tiniest bit.

Applaud vigorously. 

Keep becoming. 

 Let our inside out once in awhile.

"You cannot save the world but you can

open the window for the trapped wren

in the cellar."

We are the trapped wren in the cellar.

"Read a book to a blind man, to your father."

Is your father the blind man?

If not, find a blind man and read to him.

"Tell a child you do believe her anger."

Listen to your own.  Believe it.

Honor it. Let it teach you.

"Make your life the first life you save."

 

In The Hush

"Nature doesn't ask me to toughen up."

It can be a struggle to stay soft when

the world seems gripped by "strong", 

wrong minded humans, attempting to exert

their will upon the rest of us.

"softness is strength, and

that being deeply human is part 

of belonging here."

And we do belong.  We are a perfect fit

no matter who and where we are.

Stay stubborn.

Stay you.

 

Another Morning

Which is exactly why we must remain stubborn

enough to stay.  

PS:  If Hungary can do it, so can we.

 

Hush

"how do hear the wordless, the wise?

. . . the fresh, the new, the true."

I would also include the timeless,

the classic, the enduringly true.

Not the worn out but the worn in,

the time tested.

". . .hush the blast of noise and ask the trees,

the chickadees to point us inward."

What trees do we listen to?

I'd say all of them...the virgin forests,

the sprout, the seedling, the sapling, the mature, the stump...

as well as the fallen, the decomposing, the burning, the ashes and the absent.

The hush within us is where our truest, most alive self resides.

Visiting there is no easy venture yet worth the effort,

even when it leaves you weepy and spent...

truth can be excruciating,

truth can be exhausting.  

Making your own path through it takes

 everything you have been, 

everything you are and 

everything you are becoming

and alchemizes you into the finest, 

supremely intricate, 

endlessly resilient, 

totally irreplaceable 

truly amazing river of goodness 

you already are.

 

Ours Is Not The Task

And here it is: "Any small, calm thing that one soul

can to do help another soul. to assist some portion

of this poor suffering world, will help immensely."

I keep reminding myself of this when things become

so horrifying and unbelievably ghastly.

I repeat any small, calm thing...

any small, calm thing over and over.

It keeps me on the lookout for opportunities.

You never know if your act of kindness becomes 

 the twig that brings down the empire.

It's the accumulation of heartfelt actions

that turn the tide. 

On a slightly different note,

Here is HCR's last statement in her post today

about the end of the civil war.  It's well worth a read.

"The Civil War was won not by the dashing sons of wealthy planters,

 but by men like Grant, who dragged himself out of his blankets and 

pulled a dirty soldier’s uniform over his pounding head

 on an April morning because he knew 

he had to get up and get to work."  HCR

We will not lose our democracy to billionaires.

And every kind gesture to relieve suffering matters.

 

Things Nature Taught Me

Things Nature Is Teaching me...

You can't always trust the weather report...

best to check the sky with your own eyes.

Pay attention to the small things...tiny vignettes

of exquisite art lie in the most unexpected places.

There is beauty in decay.

Soak in the magnificence of the moment.

It can vanish in a heartbeat.

There is always more to learn.

Invisible happenings matter.

There is nothing more astonishing

than a visitation from the wild.

The humblest creature 

is doing mighty work.

There is way, way more going on

than you can see on the surface.

You don't have to remember the name

of something in order to fall in love.

Weeds are in the eyes of the beholder.

There is wonder in the way

things appear and disappear

and appear again, time after time.

 

The Stirring

"I can't help but string words, one at a time,

until there is a web woven from my heart to yours."

What a delicious way to describe what most of us do

with these marks on the page or the screen.

", , ,want to know that you feel it too,

this stirring, this pulse of life coaxing us closer. . ."

Never doubt the invisible web that words can weave

from one heart to another.  It's what makes 

the river of goodness flow strong among us.

It matters.

"Let us scatter our gold everywhere."

As valuable as coins, dollars, investments; arguably more so,

it deposits immeasurable riches into our bloodstream.

 

Boiling Point

 To hear what its 

like to live under constant threat like this,

makes me realize how amazingly fortunate we've been.

It's no wonder humans from countries where

danger, torture and death are constant threats,

used to risk life and limb to come here.

What can one do from our relatively safe abode?

Bear witness, pay attention, do not grow numb to it,

keep the innocent victims close to our heart...

 devise some small ritual to honor their suffering;

carry them with us as we move through our days.

Strengthen the power of joy and kindness

every way we can.

We will not surrender to cruelty.

May we remember the best way to resist

violence, cruelty and hate

is to plant seeds of caring wherever we are...

We are doing this...together. 

More and more every day.

We will continue...we will prevail.

You Are Made Of

 "Those who did both and never knew the difference."

Most of us can resonate with this, don't you think?

I'd go so far as to say that loving doesn't happen

without unintentional hurting.

"In the end, you are what you choose to be,

the hands opening or the fists clenching."

Love the image and the action of this 

last line.  I confess to fists clenching

more than I like to admit, these days.

I grieve how much this is happening in our world

and what it leads to.

May we concentrate on hands opening

to each other and to goodness.

I Don't Love You With

Eternal comfort in two sentences.

 

Drip Study

A longer poem but so delicious, its worth every word.

"The body always tells the truth first."

Even when you're highly skilled at ignoring

the messages from your container of skin and bones 

overflowing with breathtaking and breath making things

of immense and astonishing intricacy and wonder...

it continues its telling until you wake up and pay attention.

"The way anger prefers motion to confession."

How many time have I folded clothes or vacuumed,

or scanned the cupboards and the screen

for something, anything to squelch the rage before it hurt someone?

"This wasn't chaos. It was accumulation.

Years of swallowed sentences learning velocity."

Wow. Wow. Wow. 

"Years of swallowed sentences learning velocity"?

This verse makes my ears ring.

"There's no center here.  No horizon.

Just the evidence of staying alive

long enough to empty yourself

without asking permission."

How many of us get the chance...Or should I say TAKE

the chance to empty ourselves of every fragment of yes when we mean no,

every ounce of compliancy, every drop of pleasing, every molecule of agreeable?

"This is what it looks like when

control finally admits defeat

and something more honest takes over."

As someone who believes deeply in mutual respect

and decency, it appears to me we are witnessing 

a counterfeit form of "honesty"...

if you want to call it that...  "Telling it like it is" 

as a form of cruel belittlement of others 

does not equal any kind of integrity in my book. 

Telling it like it is, is not an adequate excuse

for objectifying others,

 and demonizing those one sees as inferior.

It is not honesty, 

it is deceit, 

it is fraud, 

it is wrong.  

To have it prevail in a seat of power

is a crime against our universe.

 

Where Do I See Myself?

Much of this touches my heart.

"...growing a garden of hopeful, little seeds

and tending to then daily because courage 

takes work and work is an honor. "

I would say commitment instead of work

although I certainly know that commitment takes work.

"understanding how rare and cherished the ordinary day can be."

This is where sanity and thick, tangible goodness lives, I believe.

"...standing up for the underdog."

Many people empathize with the underdog.

It takes great courage to stand up for them

when cruelty gets aimed their way.

healing more than I complain and 

listening more than I judge.

Oh boy, this is spot on in grand proportion. 

I do not see myself under God's wing and 

respect the author's right to do so, as I recognize

this is one of those, listen more than judge situations.

 

Beneath The Polite Green Lawn

This entire piece took my breath away.

https://www.wildwoodwriter.com/

". . .a telegram of want, the others answer

sending sugar like a sacrament

a quiet mercy moving in the dark."

"They kneel, they weave, they practice a grammar of holding."

"The wounded one is steadied by invisible hands"

"...below, in the damp cathedral of earth,

the roots remain devoted, they braid

around stone, around bone, 

around the cold relics of

things once breathing."

"They drink from what has died

and turn it into green testimony."

"The forest is not a collection of trees,

it is a single body. . ."

This is how I want to read scripture.

 

In A Time Of

We all know this, still, being reminded is uplifting.

It reassuring to hear it articulated so succinctly,

and with such confident encouragement.

 

Redefining Success

"celebrates that she finally knows that

 tending to her own flame is the whole point--"

To care for yourself is vital...

it requires you to remove the layers

of pleasing others and discovering

what feeds your flame. Then,

your glow will automatically warm others.

"she plugged her ears to the world's noise 

and carved a path to her insides instead."

No small feat in a world tightly woven together,

but well worth the effort to knowing who you truly are.

"because it grew her flame bigger, brighter,  braver."

What makes your flame bigger, brighter and braver?

It's worthwhile to contemplate.

"she sees that the world is begging for new definitions."

A deliciously new way of seeing things...

not as endings, but new beginnings.

Redefine the failed systems into ones

that contribute to freedom, fairness and fortitude.

"that the unreal must be burned to the ground...

To focus on what is real...true...eternal...

Until reading this, it had not occurred to me

that burning petroleum products

may have a silver lining...which does NOT

mean I agree with the debauchery.

It simply adjusts the dial to where 

positive outcomes become visible.

May we each tend our flame 

making them bigger, brighter and braver

redefining success in the process.

Namaste

 

Microdosing Beauty

"As I look and listen, the lies in my mind dissolve and

I am left here with these few words, sunlight warming away

whatever lies are left."

The lies in my mind about how we are caught up in awful with no way out.

 Lie. 

The lies in my mind like no action I commit matters in the big picture.

Lie.

The lies in my mind telling me I'm responsible  and accountable and

what I'm doing is not enough and I must do more, do more, do more.

Lie.

The lies in my mind saying goodness and decency fall short 

in a world run by big money and dishonest, self-serving leaders.

Lie. Lie. Lie.

"Microdosing beauty. Yes, this is the way back to the real."

May we stay with the real and let it lead us step by step

toward truth and genuine justice for all.  

And may it happen quickly.

Namaste

 

Side by Side by Side by Side

". . .in this vast, cold, expanding world, we have been given

the capacity to trust."

This is no small thing.  Trusting is not for sissies...

it asks for care and discernment as you leave childhood,

where you are indeed fortunate when given

 a healthy foundation for trusting.

May we strengthen and tighten 

our capacity to trust each other

in our local, personal relationships and  communities 

in order to offset the loss of it in the more public places.

Life is not a video game and neither is trust.

It's heart to heart and skin to skin.

Namaste

"we feel it. . .the gift of loving each other, dark though it may be."

 

The World Crumbles

"And still we keep it together."

What, exactly, are we keeping together?

Our sanity? Our Democracy? Our human dignity?

Our empathy?  Our compassion for others and our planet?

All of the above?

"The weight settles, and still, we keep breathing."

A dreadful weight it is.  Yet, our breathing continues.

We do everything we can to halt the rich men's war games,

and still, they continue, and still, we keep breathing.

"The pain growls, and still, we find ways 

to quiet the ache. Open arms, 

hands reaching  for each other. . .

I'll help you carry the day."

We may find ways to quiet the ache.

I believe we are learning to carry it,

woven into the fabric of our days.

Together...with and for each other...

Minneapolis showed us, as are

countless communities across America.

We refuse to give up on Democracy,

We refuse to give up on life, liberty and justice FOR ALL.

Namaste'

 

This Is What Life Does

 

This Is What Life Does

This is what life does.

It smooths your edges; quiets you down

Brings you to your knees; your creaky knees.

It gives you a new sky each morning

Which you can enjoy, remark upon, photograph, paint, fuss over, ignore.

This is what life does. 

It levels you; removes the rungs, if you're lucky,

and gives you a field where everyone can play.

This is what life does

It takes away your father the year you turn 40.

It keeps your mother alive to cry and 

wish she could die; Past 95.

This is what life does.

It gives you daughters who stump you when they're younger 

and dazzle you more and more as each day passes.

And grandchildren! Oh the grandchildren!

A paradise of all things miraculous.

And a man; a man who loves you and sticks by you

even when you're someone you don't even like much.

This is what life does

It gives you a neighbor the same age as your mother;

blind and lame, living alone, minus daughters,

minus grands, with an attitude you marvel at...

always upbeat, always alert, always welcoming.

This is what life does.

It surprises, quiets, astonishes, dazzles.

It terrifies you with all sorts of scary imaginary and real things.

 And it gives you poets, and stories, and teachers and farmers 

and artists, and  musicians and music to make you dance 

even when you're driving.

Nurses, cooks, workers, and neighbors and friends.

And the mountains…the glorious Smoky Mountains.

And Jones Creek Road and Timber Ridge

And flame azaleas and goats beard in your garden

This is what life does

It takes you to new places of evolution

And yes, erosion and decay

But also expansion…in a good way

It molds you and forms you and gives you away.

KAStilwell

Invocation

Isn't this exquisite?

I'm especially drawn to:

"Let the verbs noun.

Let the nouns verb."

 

and, without pause:

"Let the land speak."

May we--Listen. Listen. Listen.

May we weep together at the disrespect and suffering.

And rejoice together at our amazing resilience.

And work together to bring about a truly thriving place

where all of us can reside and remain.

Let. It. Be.

Namaste'

Smaller Than I Thought

 Most of us steer clear of the topic of death with ample reasons.

Yet, when reading this, I encounter a sense of comfort.

The fear and foreboding steps back a notch, 

giving me the willpower to dwell on the subject 

even with all the heavy feels that go with it. 

With surprise, I discover  it troubles me less.

The idea of melting into the soil and,

becoming part of every living thing, 

appeals to me. 

I remind myself no one....NO ONE

knows what its like to be dead.

Of course we know from this side,

 they are no longer here in physical, 

tangible form, and that's excrutiating.

 but we have no idea what it's like for them. 

They might be out there  "living" it up.

Who knows?

We will when we get there. 

"It is imaginary.

It is real.

It is love."

Return

"Please. . .do it for those who think they must hide,

numb, tame, tidy up, puff up, tamp down, down, down."

I am one of these in every comma...It's unsettling to be recognized.

I thought I would have learned more after all this time,

yet each of these found its mark down deep where I hide.

"do it because the world is dying from lying,

dying from caged truth--dying from too much of too much."

Dying from more than enough and never enough; 

from  "I must be greater, I must be greatest; 

the best of the best, and, mostly, better than you and you and you.

Incapable of entering the halls of equality.

"Do it because you are an undeniable work of art."

This is the line to etch into granite wherever you can.

To post on every mirror in your vicinity and

 every zoom call you appear in.  

Think it whenever you sign your name or log in.

Live into the truth of it.

It matters.

You matter.

 

Trusting Life

I would add, trusting yourself as you live your life.

Trust you will be aware of and open to growth and wisdom.

Trusting you will navigate with the best within you.

That your resiliance is growing through every event.

Trust that whatever happens, you will meet it with all you are capable of.

Trust that you are not alone no matter how lonely you're feeling.

Trust that help is available whenever you need it.

Trust that you don't have to be flawless...you don't have to know everything...

you are good and decent and that matters...you've got this...

We're in this together.

We are prevailing.

Namaste

 

Everywhere

The elegance and truth in these words pierces every defense

and denial inside of me, softening and strengthening at the same time.

I'm now on the look out for tiny stings that alert me to

something trying to fracture my fortress of fear,

to puncture my mindless programming,

 to alter my abrupt assumptions,

to euthanize my need to please;

to break my ice of nice;

and witness my own stark truth, 

in all it gore and glory...

without censure, edit or rewrite...

to behold and hold the agony and the ecstacy

and every layer between them.

Thank you for being here.

Namaste