life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the category “Poetry”

05 Nov 2013

if you stop to be kind, you must swerve often from your path. – mary webb

Pilgrim,
learn to love your failures,
your fruitless days,
your weak and barren prayers.
Every step in the wilderness,
even when you’re lost,
is a step on the journey
toward the Promised Land.

b3d06045735b29710bf7b29ec03f3f65Every step, even the two forward
and one back
and one to the side,
going nowhere,
is blessed:
a step in the dance
your Lover has
with you.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

Posted in action, Adventure, awareness, Dancing, find art at pinterest, Glory, grace, Love, mystery, Poetry, soul and spirit, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment
31 Oct 2013

everybody’s a true soul wrapped up in illusions

e1ae5b582dedf27aad52daefb196d4e3All Hallowed Eve:
before All Saints Day comes,
before we recognize the holy among us,
in the dark before I myself am taken up in glory,
I have permission to dress up in my deepest fear,
my greatest hope, my truest self.
I am a dragon, a dead man, a princess.
But of course beneath the costume I am actually
a king, a zombie, a magician,
an alien, a prostitute,
a child.

This one night, this Hallowed Evening,
we all are evened out:
everybody’s a true soul wrapped up in illusions,
disguised in fears and fantasies—
we’re all beauty queens and monsters—
and for once everybody knows it
cc6b01614dc548c98632e014c8eade7cand we’re OK with that,
because we know within we’re humans all alike.

This is so we know that on all other days
all who come to us and we as well
can be ourselves
and be accepted at stranger’s doors
and be given delights.

Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

Posted in awareness, find art at pinterest, Happy Holiday!, inspiration, Letting Go, People, Poetry, Vulnerability, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment
29 Oct 2013

how’s the diet?

if we are what we eat,
then I have eaten slamming doors
and too much sunshine
and not enough rain
with every way to say goodbye
in every language that has ever existed
and I have eaten every
way to ignore love
and every form of leaving.
if we are what we eat,
i have eaten cowards
and regret
and i have eaten the way people
rely and rely and rely and rely
but I have also eaten trust issues in
the form of rotten apples
and peaches without pits.
I have starved myself when the only thing
on my plate has been
to fall into something greater
than I could understand
and something that could make
the wholeness I feel,
not alone.
If we are what we eat,
I must have eaten
my worst enemy.

Amanda Helm
http://amandaspoetry.tumblr.com/post/59253380196/if-we-are-what-we-eat-then-i-have-eaten-slamming
7342927291ca6da91fd671bed7b0ebe7

64da12cd9c07b0437578ef67f3415bcd

Changing our lives is possible.
One step at a time. We must be brutally honest with ourselves and then break patterns one at a time.
One step, one choice at a time!

Posted in action, Adventure, awareness, Becoming Yourself, beloved, courage, determination, Encouragement, find art at pinterest, Freedom, Letting Go, Life, Love, Poetry, Trust, truth, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment
03 Oct 2013
2 Comments

searching

Eldorado
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Gaily bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.

But he grew old—
This knight so bold—
And o’er his heart a shadow
Fell, as he found
No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.

And, as his strength
Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow—
‘Shadow,’ said he,
‘Where can it be—
This land of Eldorado?’

‘Over the Mountains
Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,’
The shade replied,—
‘If you seek for Eldorado!’

Posted in action, Adventure, Choice, courage, determination, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, inspiration, laugh, mystery, Poetry, Stars and Moonlight, success, Uncategorized
20 Sep 2013

surrender

Mid-September. The sunrise is getting late, creeping around the side of the house a little farther each day. Garden leaves 8are curling. A new set of kids are waiting for the bus now.  This morning they are finally willing to wear coats.  A sheet is draped over the morning glories on the mailbox against the night cold. In the meadow the rising sun lays its yellow fan among the trees, the grass the color of the rising sun. Trees begin to emerge from the solid green of summer into different shades of yellow and ochre, some reds.  Here and there a tree goes ahead, a single branch flames out. Overhead a squiggle of geese pass by, schoolgirls chattering on their way south, only at the moment they’re headed east.  The Panellis have built a ramp up to their front porch. The flowers in the pot that I broke are doing OK in the new pot I stuck them in, though it’s too small.  The old pieces are still lying there, behind the corner of the porch.  I need to call my sister.  In the early morning the ornamental grasses wear little crowns of light.

Surrender looks different for each of us.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

Days of wine and focus
8of hanging on
of seeking strong
of keeping faith
of sitting still
of being silent
of standing in my own shoes
of letting go
of allowing the mystery
of hearing the call
of accepting what is
of not crossing borders or boundaries
of opening and opening
of trusting the journey
of seeing the face of God
of surrender into something bigger than I can know
of making the daily commitment
of acknowledging the grace
of thanking for everything
of looking for the miracles
of talking to trees
of taking time to prepare
of expressing my love
of helping in time of need
of following my own path
of obedience rather than sacrifice
of taking my shoes off for the holy
of love and love and love
of all things love

AL 9/17/13

Posted in attitude, awareness, Blessing, Choice, courage, find art at pinterest, Freedom, Gratitude, Letting Go, Life, Love, nature, Poetry, Seasons, Uncategorized | Leave a comment
14 Sep 2013

Praise Song for the Day

Each day we go about our business,
walking past each other, catching each other’s
eyes or not, about to speak or speaking.

All about us is noise. All about us is
noise and bramble, thorn and din, each
one of our ancestors on our tongues.

Someone is stitching up a hem, darning8
a hole in a uniform, patching a tire,
repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere,
with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum,
with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.
A farmer considers the changing sky.
A teacher says, Take out your pencils. Begin.

We encounter each other in words, words
spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed,
words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark
the will of someone and then others, who said
I need to see what’s on the other side.

I know there’s something better down the road.
We need to find a place where we are safe.
We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain: that many have died for this day.
Sing the names of the dead who brought us here,
who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges,

picked the cotton and the lettuce, built
brick by brick the glittering edifices
they would then keep clean and work inside of.12

Praise song for struggle, praise song for the day.
Praise song for every hand-lettered sign,
the figuring-it-out at kitchen tables.

Some live by love thy neighbor as thyself,
others by first do no harm or take no more
than you need. What if the mightiest word is love?

Love beyond marital, filial, national,
love that casts a widening pool of light,
love with no need to pre-empt grievance.

In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air,
any thing can be made, any sentence begun.
On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,

praise song for walking forward in that light.

by Elizabeth Alexander
http://www.elizabethalexander.net/home.html

 

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Posted in Adventure, attitude, awareness, beauty, Encouragement, find art at pinterest, Gratitude, Life, People, Poetry, Reflection, soul and spirit, thankfulness | Leave a comment
11 Sep 2013

writing a poem

I fit words together,
hoping they mean something.
Wanting them to make sense.
Allowing them emotion.
Willing to give them freely.
Creating a monument,
for a moment in time,
to share with the world. photo
These words become something tangible.
A thing,
a gift,
a piece of art.
A part of me,
stays with them.
Little pieces of me,
like shapes in a puzzle,
becoming
a picture,
a flower,
a song.
Small particles of my soul,
like a rose bud,
opening in my hand,
mesmerizes with it’s
beauty,
touch,
fragrance.
I write words on a page,
and feel love
spreading outward,
as the flowering happens,
as this thought blooms.
As words become thoughts about…
As the pieces become beautiful…
As the poem is born, 5
of water,
blood,
star dust
and becomes…
a small piece of me,
left behind on pages,
for others to find,
sharing a small moment,
never to be lost,
because it has been
recorded,
acknowledged,
emptied.
Gratitude makes room for new
miracles,
learning,
beauty,
as they find their new home
ready,
emptied,
expectant.
Waiting for more
truth,
goodness,
love,
to flow and enter in. 6
There is always more,
and more than enough.
The heart that gives gathers,
but never tries to hold anything hostage.
Love,
giving,
pretty much everything,
about life,
only works when we allow it,
all of it,
every sacred cow,
every spec of mud,
to be free.

AL 9/10/13

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, courage, create, find art at pinterest, Freedom, giving, Gratitude, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, mystery, Poetry, receiving, soul and spirit, Stars and Moonlight, words, Writing | Leave a comment
09 Sep 2013
1 Comment

Ahhhh…now I get it…hee

6

Posted in find art at pinterest, Life, Love, Miracles, Passion, People, Poetry
01 Sep 2013

time to fall in love

6

Aimless Love
by Billy Collins

This morning as I walked along the lakeshore,
I fell in love with a wren
and later in the day with a mouse
the cat had dropped under the dining room table.

 In the shadows of an autumn evening,
I fell for a seamstress
still at her machine in the tailor’s window,
and later for a bowl of broth,
steam rising like smoke from a naval battle.

 This is the best kind of love, I thought,
without recompense, without gifts,
or unkind words, without suspicion,
or silence on the telephone.

 The love of the chestnut,
the jazz cap and one hand on the wheel.
No lust, no slam of the door—
the love of the miniature orange tree,
the clean white shirt, the hot evening shower,
the highway that cuts across Florida.

 No waiting, no huffiness, or rancor—
just a twinge every now and then

 for the wren who had built her nest
on a low branch overhanging the water
and for the dead mouse,
still dressed in its light brown suit.

 But my heart is always propped up
in a field on its tripod,
ready for the next arrow.

 After I carried the mouse by the tail
to a pile of leaves in the woods,
I found myself standing at the bathroom sink
gazing down affectionately at the soap,

 so patient and soluble,
so at home in its pale green soap dish.
I could feel myself falling again
as I felt its turning in my wet hands
and caught the scent of lavender and stone.

The Writer’s Almanac
http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/

Posted in attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Blessing, Choice, find art at pinterest, inspiration, Life, Love, Miracles, nature, Poetry | Leave a comment
23 Aug 2013
3 Comments

thank you, Mary Oliver

10

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

Posted in Adventure, attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Blessing, Choice, create, Dancing, find art at pinterest, Glory, inspiration, Letting Go, Life, light, Love, Miracles, music, mystery, nature, Passion, perceptions, Poetry

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