life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the category “Passion”

04 Apr 2016

sweetness: honey, tangerines and black-faced sheep

 

On this bitter-sweet morning

I spot the jar, 

and slowly, 

deliberately,

lick the white-golden sticky. 

Spun honey directly from the spoon. 

Remembering…

my Grandma Duvall 

always had spun honey, 

and so many other beautiful treats,

at her house.

As a little girl,

I loved it…

I love it still –

tho it goes right to my head,

and makes me a bit dizzy. 

Buzzz…..Buzzzzz 
Mature tastebuds know…

there must be balance. 

Wisdom is learning to choose balance.

I think of how kind words are compared to honey. 

How important it is to choose the sweet,

right in the middle of the bitter,

the choice is all mine. 

I suck the last bit off the spoon,

and move along into my day,

carrying the smile,

the sticky, sweet, stolen glow,

of that moment with me. 
A bit of healing sweetness

right there in the kitchen. 

A bit of amazing grace 

right in the mess of my moments. 

A bit of heaven, 

right here and now, 

on a mixed – up Monday. 

🐝

AL

  
To love everything, not just parts … 

To love all of yourself, not just certain traits … 

To rest in not knowing … 
To carry the cross 

and to lay your burden down … 
To savor the medicine blue of moon, 

the fierce sugar of tangerine … 
To be a Christ unto others, 

a Christ unto one’s self … 
To laugh … 
To be shameless, wild, and silly … 
To know—fully, headlong, 

without compunction—the ordinary magic 

of our beautiful human bodies … 

these seem worthwhile pursuits, life-long tasks.   

All is grace. 

⚜

selected from/ A Poem for My Daughter by Teddy Macker

  
It is the work of feeling,

to undo expectation.

A black-faced sheep

looks back at you as you pass

and your heart is startled

as if by the shadow

of someone once loved.
Neither comforted by this

nor made lonely.

Only remembering

that a self in exile 

is still a self,

as a bell unstruck for years

is still a bell. 

🔔

Sheep by Jane Hirshfield

 

photo sources found at http://www.pinterest.com 

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, balance, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Change, Choice, find art at pinterest, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, moment, Passion, perceptions | Leave a comment
25 Mar 2016

Good Friday 

 

 Copperleaf Lane is dancing in white,
like a row of brides,

as ready, 

as they possibly could be 

to say, I do. 

I drive through the flower strewn pathway

feeling special,

like life is unfolding,

just for the love of me.  

I am beloved, 

a daughter of graces,

twirling within this beauty,

this bounty,

the world’s abundance falling freely around me. 

I sing,

la dee da dee da

You keep filling my senses,

you keep walking towards me,

smiling,

that beautiful heart of yours,

held gently, 

tenderly,

within your hands –

the perfect gift

for a girl like me. 

Heaven is holding its breath…

counting intensely…

1…

2..
❤️

AL

  
  
TURNING TOWARD HOME 
The moment you have spoken the exact words that describe your distance from where you want to be, the moment you have uttered the exact aching dimensionality of your own exile, you have already turned around, faced the other way and taken the first steps on the long awaited journey home… 

🌳

David Whyte

THE THREE MARRIAGES

Re-imagining Work, Self and Relationship

   yesterday I was born a leaf

a small fragile tender wisp

trembling as I hung on the vine

yesterday I was a gust of air

short lived, but not insignificant 

full of bone rattling cold and hat disturbing bravado

yesterday I was a large, slow, snow flake

plopping down like a wet goose feather

making the world a magical place

yesterday I was a world made of glass

lying shattered on the floor

hoping to be recycled into a new and useful object

yesterday I was various people

a student, a host, a friend, a lover

feeling my way into the next moment hoping to find a way home

yesterday I stood tall as a tree

proud yet with humble confidence 

accepting what winter brought, gently weeping, 

embracing this brand new life bringing

spring

🌿

AL
 

here’s the thing…

what’s a girl to do with all this happiness?

what sort of containers can hold this amount of wild joy?

will howling at the moon help disperse it into the world?

or dancing in a beautiful fountain, with you, bring sanity?

what if I shout it proud to everyone I pass on street? 

will they clap to hear my good news? 

will you wish me happy for every morning and evening? 

will you take a train, plane or automobile to see me? 

will you hold me & tell me that I’m the most beautiful girl you’ve ever seen?

will you love me with all you are for everything I am right now,

and ever will be becoming?

living well is my best revenge

won’t it would be nice to share this happiness? 

do wild and crazy things?

come on, everybody,

let’s let joy flow in big puddles all around us,

till we jump like children,

till we swim in the ocean of all this blessed grace

🌫

AL

Posted in attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Beginning, beloved, Blessing, connection, Faith, find art at pinterest, giving, Glory, grace, Gratitude, Happiness, Happy Holiday!, healing, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, mystery, Passion, Patience, power, Prayer | Leave a comment
19 Mar 2016

amazing grace

 

 God, save me from the lie 

of an acceptable death,

the heroic sacrifice (too many spent),

a crazed god’s scheme

to sell forgiveness for blood.

Save me from the anticipated gesture,

the deal agreed upon.

Deliver me instead into truth’s sordid lap,

the bewildering perversion

that comes of fear, and death its only issue, 

violence its only hands and feet;

the way we judge, the way we think we can.

Let me not blame this on you.
No: only in the jumpy torchlight 

of the unnecessary flames

of another lynching, another rape,

a war, an execution,

the tragedy of power,

only here in honest horror

do we see your awful love in all its range,

your inexplicable grace unbending,

mercy nailed and crowned with thorns.

Only here in our deepest depravity,

not planned, not paid for, but accepted,

can I know love strong enough

to save me and all this trembling world

not from that but this,

not from the fear of hell

but from the hell itself of fear.

Only in my deepest loss, and yours,

do I see love win

and raise me up to something new

and really alive. 
__________________  

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net

  
walking by faith
expecting miracles 
we rely on things to come
we hope in what is not seen
we stand on invisible ground
fly without evidence of our wings
we fight battle with foes from another dimension
we teach without seeing the whole vision
we trust what we cannot see with our eyes
we walk on 
knowing, 
for sure, 
we are going the right way
directed by the silence
in bright, beautiful pathways of grace
and dark, eerie forests of fog
somedays we are surrounded by fellow pilgrims, or foes, or strange bed-fellows,

other days we seem to walk alone
no matter
we walk on
or we sit and wait
relying on radical trust
we learn the virtues by living 
because we have truly learned
what we could never learn
by our own understanding 
faith is the victory
everything is grace

☀️

AL
 

 

Posted in attitude, awareness, find art at pinterest, forgiveness, Freedom, Glory, Gospel, grace, Gratitude, Happy Holiday!, healing, Hope, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, Passion, soul and spirit, strength, Trust, truth, Vulnerability, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment
17 Mar 2016

St Patrick’s Day

 

 

  
To be so moved by a song, it’s lyrics, the music, a voice, by art, by nature, by a teaching, by a person. Moved to a point where your heart breaks open so wide that you know that the pulse of life is beating as One. It’s the Universal Heartbeat, of which can feel as if it is within you. Truth is, that feeling is us being of God. 

🎼

   – Robyn Whiteman

Posted in attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, connection, Faith, find art at pinterest, Happy Holiday!, Letting Go, Life, Miracles, music, Passion, Patience | Leave a comment
15 Mar 2016

spring fling 

   
    
 
After long icy months

the little frogs emerge,

thaw out and sing 

their joy to be able

to sing for joy, sing wonder,

sing their longing, and ours,

a more than mating call,

naively throwing their hope

into the air, and ours, 

not just for the more 

but for the someone.

There’s little to do about it

but to notice the longing

and make a habit of knowing it,

even without words,

trusting it, even just

the high, earnest sound 

of our mating call for God

and the faithful waiting,

married to the promise,

which has also been faithful

for millions of years.

You walk along the pond and listen, 

let your heart rise a little,

and wait. 
__________________  

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net

 

 As I approach, 
it comes to me quickly – 

all four seasons are flowing,

visible residents 

of this mornings beach. 

Here are bands of snow 

from this spell 

we call Winter. 

Here, layers of leaf-surf to shuffle through the memories, 

we called Fall. 

Which, seems to me, 

was just yesterday? 

The sands dna carries the Summer sun,

still warm, 

within its restless, shifting soul. 

It whispers promises of returning warmth and sunshine as I stand, here and now, in cold, driving rain, 

working through markers of time,

arriving, right here, at my favorite season, 

Spring!

Grief, death and hope are front and center,

as Vinnie’s beautiful, driftwood cross 

still stands as a memorial to his mother’s recent passing, 

as well as, the hope of springs arrival! 

Easter carries the sharp winds of death,

alive with the eternal mystery of resurrection. 

I realize there are many symbols of spring, 

on this mixed media stretch of grainy life: 

The all-weather gulls floating, trusting, 

eternally free. 

The rhythm of the waves forever dancing with, 

continually kissing,

the shore. 

Then there’s me,

aware and alive, 

with possibilities 

of love, 

music,

even that slippery word, 

happiness,

surrounding my steps!

It doesn’t matter

that you aren’t here yet. 

Knowing I am worthy of this is enough. 

There are awakenings,

rising strong on mended wings,

trusting the healing path taken, 

even as the work continues. 

Allowing these

shy, twinkling lights 

to glow and illuminate 

the most fearful, secret corners 

of the darkest rooms 

of my heart. 

I smile and silently shout, Yes! 

I promise to love and be loved!

I am willing to let love all the way in! 

Can you hear me, wherever you are?

Will your heart shout out as well?

I can’t stop smiling. 

March and Courage,

these fearless lions,

who will lead us all home –

right where we belong. 

😍

AL

 

  

 

Posted in Adventure, attitude, awareness, Change, find art at pinterest, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, mystery, nature, Passion, Peace | Leave a comment
11 Mar 2016
1 Comment

layer upon layer

 

 
I was born out of love and with a purpose unknown to me then, but revealed to me one day at a time.

☀️

 Today by Walter Dunlevy

  
This world doesn’t improve by demanding perfection. It improves when we reach through our armor and touch another with tenderness. It improves when we bust through the walls of our conditioning, and try a new way of being on for size. It improves when we work through our unresolved shadow and share what little light we can find. It is the small, positive steps that we take when we are at war with ourselves that change the world.

☀️

   – Jeff Brown 

  

awe…
examination…
it keeps appearing…
again…
I delete…
again…
I delete…
haven’t I already written this poem?
haven’t I already done that one?
What is left that I haven’t taken out?
haven’t examined properly?
There are always layers…
As Shrek reminds me…
I am an onion…
layers…
illusions…
shadows…
truth left to excavate…
healing to be won…
motivations to uncover…
mystery to be discovered…
always more!
God keeps getting bigger…

and bigger…
as I examine…
reduce…
open…
help me to stay in this mode of self realization…
growth…
humble me…
my best self emerges within this process…
send it again…
remind me again…

💞

  
photo sources at http://www.pinterest.com

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, balance, Becoming Yourself, Choice, compassion, connection, courage, find art at pinterest, Freedom, Growth, Habits, inspiration, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, Passion
09 Mar 2016

uphold the integrity of the quest   – spoken @ Infusion Cincinnati 

 

A GLIMPSE

The beauty of the imagination is that it can discover such magnificent vastness inside a tiny space. Our culture is dominated by quantity. Even those who have plenty hunger for more and more. Everywhere around us, the reign of quantity extends and multiplies. Sadly the voyage of greed has all the urgency but no sense of destination. Desire becomes inflated and loses all sense of vision and proportion. When beauty becomes an acquisition it brings no delight. When time seemed longer and slower, the eye of the beholder had more space and distance to glimpse the beautiful. There was a respect for the worlds that could be suggested by a glimpse. 

☄

 John O’Donohue 

 Excerpt from BEAUTY

  

I steal glimpses of beauty,

in all she is – 

this moment,

sky in my rearview. 

A huge bowl of rainbow sherbet

my favorite-color-kind

with raspberry, orange & lime

swatches of lemon, indigo & periwinkle 

float like barges –

in, out 

&

around.

Framing. 

Dancing. 

Living. 

At one point tangerine fills the top of the hilly crest,

headlight stars 

blaze brilliant against the backdrop. 

Indigo stretched above, framing this momentary masterpiece. 

At times I find it hard to keep moving forward

into the matt gray of drudgery ahead.

With so much loveliness going on 

right behind me…

how can I keep heading away from it?

How can I not be a part of this splendor?

Eventually, midnight blue seizes its moment of glory,

then night falls over all, 

and I am left,

aching with the beauty,

the majesty,

the extravagant display,

of this wonderful world. 

I go to wondering

if this longing in my heart

will ever be answered?

If my whole life I will wait 

for a moment which will never come? 

Will it never be realized under this piece of sky? 

Will it always be this whisper?

The magic of hope,

this thing with wings, 

hovering over my heart

for another 50 years, 

echoing on into eternity.  

🌄

AL

   


  

 

 

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, beloved, big, Blessing, Choice, connection, courage, find art at pinterest, Habits, healing, Hope, Imagine, inspiration, Letting Go, Life, light, Love, Miracles, mystery, nature, Passion | Leave a comment
01 Mar 2016

conservation: only you can set your soul on fire  

   

If you have one hour of air

And many hours to go,

You must breathe slowly.

If you have one arm’s length

and many things to care for,

You must give freely. 

If you have one chance to know God

And many doubts, you must

Set your heart on fire.

We are blessed.

Each day is a chance.

We have two arms.

Fear wastes air.

🔥

Freefall by Mark Nepo

  
photos found at http://www.pinterest.com

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, connection, courage, create, Glory, Letting Go, Life, light, Love, Passion, Poetry | Leave a comment
29 Feb 2016

Catch that poem 

 

 Poetry is a life-cherishing force. For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry.
☄

– Mary Oliver

 

 Running to Catch a Poem: Remembering the Poet in the Story 

Poems came to me

As if from far away.

I would feel them coming,

I would rush into the house,

Looking for paper and pencil.

It had to be quick,

For they passed through me

And were gone forever.

💫

– Ruth Stone, “Fragrance” (in her last collection “What Love Comes To”

💥

As a poet myself, I feel for Ruth Stone, because thanks to Elizabeth Gilbert, Stone’s mode of chasing poems like runaway horses is favorite, but few have read the poet herself or even remember her name. It’s well worth seeking out her work and noticing, along the way, how she rose above a dark river of grief and pain, especially after her second husband (also a poet) hanged himself from a door in the family home.
Oh yes. Then there are two delicious further revelations in Gilbert’s account of how she heard it from Stone. When a poem got away from her, she felt it galloping away, “searching for another poet”. Then sometimes she would manage to grab an escaping poem by the tail, and would feel herself pulling it back. “In these instances, the poem would appear on the page from the last word to the first – backward, but otherwise intact.” (Elizabeth Gilbert, “Big Magic”, 65.)
Many of us dreamers know exactly how that works, as we pull back dreams by the tail as they run away. How many of the dreams that escape go searching for another dreamer?

💫

Robert Moss

 

photo sources found @ http://www.pinterest.com 

🌟
http://www.mossdreams.com

✨

http://maryoliver.beacon.org

 

 I string words like pearls
Knotting silence between each one

like silk thread

in a jewelers skillful hands

long strands or chokers

strategic placing of diamonds

where needed

sometime a sparkling featured

brilliant jeweled pendant 

always taking special care with the hardware

the finishing is the most important

must stand up to daily use

easy for right or left hands alike

then a final polish before bagging

when each piece is complete

💦

AL
 

Posted in art, attitude, awareness, be, beauty, Becoming Yourself, create, find art at pinterest, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, mystery, Passion, Poetry | Leave a comment
17 Feb 2016

am i?

 

 Quiet friend who has come so far, 
feel how your breathing makes more space around you. 

Let this darkness be a bell tower 

and you the bell. As you ring, 
what batters you becomes your strength. 

Move back and forth into the change. 

What is it like, such intensity of pain? 

If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine. 
In this uncontainable night, 

be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses, 

the meaning discovered there. 
And if the world has ceased to hear you, 

say to the silent earth: I flow. 

To the rushing water, speak: I am

🛤

qII, 29 [Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower] by Rainer Maria Rilke

   

 Crossroads and choices, now is the time to decide which path will lead to the garden and more healthy life choices. One just doesn’t wait until Midsummer and think about growing fresh produce for a salad.

   – Old Moss Woman’s Secret Garden/facebook

  
When an open heart meets an open hand, the result is more feast and more love, enough for a small village to be nurtured from this drawer alone. I see this and recognize him instantly: a soul brother, a lover of life, a father, a friend, a ringleader, a listener, a creative co-conspirator, a holder…of space, of hearts, of possibilities. A man with much to give and more to say, to a yearning, hopeful world.

   – Jen Lemen

   
 photo sources found at http://www.pinterest.com

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, Beginning, Beliefs, beloved, big, Blessing, Choice, commitment, connection, courage, determination, do, Faith, find art at pinterest, Happiness, healing, inspiration, intimacy, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, Passion, Patience | Leave a comment

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