life: acoustic & amplified
poetry, quotes & thoughts about life
Archive for the category “inspiration”
thank you, Mary Oliver
Mary Oliver reminds me
to let go of any need, that might linger within,
to, even try, to impress anyone,
least of all,
myself.
LET GO…
just stay alert to the extravagant impressiveness around me,
puddling at my feet,
drowning my life with goodness.
To be easily astonished,
easily filled with wonder,
to allow life to boggle my mind.
To stay a child of joy and nature,
a collector of abundant miracles,
never taking one of them for granted.
To stay in awe of sunsets
and dandelions,
coffee shops
and grasshoppers.
Bears and ants.
To gasp every time I get a view of the ocean,
to be breathless at the view from a mountaintop road at sunset.
To thrill when I see a leaf change color.
To crane my neck, every single time, to catch a glimpse of sunlight on water,
and the curve of a babies cheek.
To get a chill of macabre delight
at gnarly, old toenails,
and bats hanging upside down
in a dark damp cave,
or flying around a street light as darkness falls slowly through the air.
Such things keep me alive.
These are the true riches of our living.
Extreme miracles everywhere around us.
We are here to witness,
here to share descriptions of such beauty,
even our feeble attempts are so amazing
they boggle the mind.
Thank you, Mary Oliver, for this reminder,
with your lovely vision
and every beautiful, glorious word.
We are each here to do our part,
to record our miracles
in our own way.
With our
lives,
voices,
pens,
paints,
dances,
lyrics,
artistry,
we make up this tapestry,
record the blazing glory,
of this masterpiece we live in.
We each add notes to the grand symphony of life,
no accidents,
or accidental people.
Only I can tell you the grandeur of my living space,
it is mine alone,
until I share it.
As I share,
I allow the singing of the rocks to be heard,
but also to stay a silent mystery
–
at least for those
who don’t choose to hear
this exquisite, out-of-this-world music,
playing with such brilliance, light and passion,
everywhere we go.
AL 8/23/13
the catch varies :)
Catch of the Day
by Lucy Shaw
It leaps, breaking the skin of the lake
of possibility, this thing that flashes steel –
this trout of a poem, wild with life, rainbow scales
and spiny fins. Now, for patience, the pull of the catch:
I cast, wait for the jerk – the tug of the hook in bony jaw –
feel the line go taut. The ballet begins, a wrestle
to land this flailing, feral thing – all thrash and edge –
and tame it into telling its own muscular story.
I heave it over the edge of its arrival, glorious,
fighting the whole way, slippery as language.
Its beauty twitches on the floor boards, its glisten
spilling over the bottom on my notebook page.
http://www.lucishaw.com/
life changing words
there are words strung together
in such beauty
in such a way
they touch secret places
of pain so deep
they have had no words
they almost don’t exist
they are so deep
so shadowy scarred and twisted
so nameless I can’t acknowledge them
because they might possibly be ghosts, or demons
and why would I disturb alien creatures,
when there is quite enough pain
right here in plain sight
to try to heal and deal with?
until these thoughts appear,
shadows become real,
in these words of another
because the other
has felt
has written
has sung
has wrestled and wrangled with
this too
and the words they have mined
from these dark, broken quarries
touch that wispy, pain-filled place
inside of me
with delicate fingers
and declare they are so,
and make them alright,
binding and healing
my broken bones
my hidden stab wounds
my almost too pain-filled to be real
merely by sharing them
and my soul says, aha!
and the roses in my heart
turn from blush to deepest crimson
and birds come and rest in these trees,
which declare every moment that
Yahweh is always gracious,
and the morning wakes up
new and alive
and love burns seven times hotter
than I ever thought possible
and I count gift after gift
of never-before-seen riches at my fingertips
as I step into a life
that matters
because I am beloved
because I understand myself better
and the meaning of,
It is what it is,
and,
the truth shall set you free
become my praise songs
because I am
with every word
and I grin and say,
You aren’t much,
and I belly laugh
because it is true
and I laugh even harder because,
truth is also,
I am everything I need to be
hallelujah
glory be!
AL 8/12/13
a special thank you to my favorite writers today! So very grateful for words written and shared!
Steve Garnaas-Holmes, Mary Oliver, Oriah Mountain Dreamer, Kathy Galloway, Wendell Berry, Walt Whitman, Paulo Coelho, Ann Voskamp, Mark Buchanan, Kyle Idleman, Henri Nouwen, Brennan Manning, John O’Donohue, Audrey Assad, Janet Paschal, and so many, many others who have touched and inspired me over the years…these are exceptional amazing, inspiring people of words! Thank you for your gifts to me!
I am God. I don’t make mistakes. – God speaking to/through Katherine Wolf
Sunday I spent most of the day reading a really wonderful blog called thought gently whispers by Kate Robertson. http://stoneriverstudio.blogspot.com/ – it was very encouraging. Music speaks to Kate like it does to me and so I was in a very good place reading her words and listening to her music. Good, good stuff.
One of her posts took me to a blog and a short film by Jay and Katherine Wolf, called Hope Heals http://hopeheals.com/. I hope you will take the time to watch. Such beautiful grace. No, God does not make mistakes. God does not cause our brokenness, but even our most broken places can be redeemed by God. Love always means ALL things for good. 
the purpose of love is to create trust in good – Mary Baker Eddy
What if this is as good as it gets?
What if THIS very day is the best life will be?
What if this is what you are called to?
What if this moment is your purpose?
What can you do to find the joy in this moment?
How can you be happy and satisfied right now?
What are the miracles that are happening for you as you read this?
What joy-filled moment is hanging in the air above your head,
ready to splash all over you?
What gifts are being offered, if you will just receive them,
allow them to tumble all around you?
Maybe, just maybe, these questions hold the true secrets of life.
Maybe, living life in joy-fullness right now –
not waiting for some dream to come true –
Not holding back till your illusion of happiness materializes.
But, right now, sitting in whatever circumstance you are in,
no matter if it includes
pleasure or pain,
birth or death,
sorrow or joy,
broken hearts or full.
What if, this very given moment,
you look around and begin
finding the avalanche of jewel-blessings
surrounding you NOW.
Maybe this is the best, and only, secret.
Don’t wait for happy.
Don’t postpone your celebration.
Don’t wait to dance.
Laugh hard until your belly hurts today.
Cry hard until the salt heals your hurts.
The goodness of life is available now,
as well as, every minute
of this day,
Then when this day is done,
and you have enjoyed it’s vast array of gifts,
do the same tomorrow.
AL 7/27/13
what about now?
I didn’t write a poem yesterday
The third day I have missed writing at least one poem,
for the past 8 months.
There were many moments I could have captured –
But I didn’t.
moments of grace,
moments of failed attempts at grace,
moments of beauty,
moments of ordinary life,
in an ordinary day,
disgusting moments of clean up,
moments of peace watching the breeze sway the trees,
moments of aggravation trying to feed an old dog pills,
unexpected treasures of a cool wind at noon in July,
and unexpected hardships walking from the grocery store overloaded with bags.
There were lovely moments of frosting cupcakes with fresh buttercream,
moments of friendship, shared laughter and food,
hard moments of garbled, angry speech,
blissful moments of holding new baby, Eli –
that was definitely a poetic moment!
There were painful moments of looking at a very ill face,
winning moments as the Mets beat the Braves.
all these moments,
and so many more
each a gift I received,
each a story to be shared with humanity.
Such are the moments of our lives,
our stories to scribe on our hearts and on paper.
So many miracles to notice,
to acknowledge,
to record.
So many ways to write a poem –
and I chose none of them
AL 7/26/13
think about it…
A bell’s not a bell ’til you ring it
A song’s not a song ’til you sing it
Love in your heart wasn’t put there to stay
Love isn’t love ’til you give it away!
– Oscar Hammerstein II
life: acoustic & amplified 