Skip to content

Sep 3

Holding Flowers

“In English we say ‘I’m tired.’ But in poetry we say I’ve been holding up entire skies with hands that were only ever meant to hold flowers.” – Sophia Bray

“Rest:
as beautiful and necessary a task as any.
How else can we remember to breathe?
to think?
to shut out the world?
to not think?
to regain the strength
to take on the world?
to take in the world
with all our senses?
to dream?”― Shellen Lubin

Endings and beginnings.
Holding hands.
Walking each other home.
Until one takes the lead.
As the other fades, falls behind, rests from work well done.
Sure to come again.
In due time and timing.
Entering familiar spaces with fresh eyes, new hope.
Holding flowers in all seasons.
Skies meant for gazing, not holding.

“Lord: it is time. The summer was immense.
Lay your shadow on the sundials
and let loose the wind in the fields.
Bid the last fruits to be full;
give them another two more southerly days,
press them to ripeness, and chase
the last sweetness into the heavy wine.” – Rainer Maria Rilke

Sep 2

Hidden, Front and Center

“Be still and listen to the voices that belong
to the stream banks and the trees and the open fields.
Find your hope, then, on the ground under your feet.”― Wendell Berry, The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry

“Sometimes hidden from me
in daily custom and in trust,
so that I live by you unaware
as by the beating of my heart,

Suddenly you flare in my sight,
a wild rose blooming at the edge
of thicket, grace and light
where yesterday was only shade,

and once again I am blessed, choosing
again what I chose before.”
― Wendell Berry, The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry

Not for more or different.
But for gratitude and grace, senses ablaze.
To recognize and partake in blessings, beauty, light.
Already present in abundance.
On the ground I stand.
Prayer, poetry, proclamation.

“For everything that comes
is a gift, the meaning always
carried out of sight
to renew our whereabouts,
always a starting place.
And every gift is perfect
in its beginning, for it
is “from above, and cometh down
from the Father of lights.”
― Wendell Berry, The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry

Sep 1

September Sun

“September days have the warmth of summer in their briefer hours, but in their lengthening evenings a prophetic breath of autumn.”― Rowland E. Robinson

“September reminds us to lean into change, to trust the process, and to welcome the opportunities that come with every new chapter. As the air shifts, we are reminded that every ending carries the seed of a new beginning. Life whispers that change is not to be feared, but embraced… a gentle reminder that letting go is a part of growth and that beauty is found not only in what blooms, but also in what transforms.”― Steve Maraboli

Season shifts.
Out and in.
Thresholds, bridges, crossings.
To remain open, curious, welcoming.
Beginnings and endings woven with seeds and fruit,
Harvest well.
Fruit of transformation.

“[T]hat old September feeling, left over from school days, of summer passing, vacation nearly done, obligations gathering, books and football in the air … Another fall, another turned page: there was something of jubilee in that annual autumnal beginning, as if last year’s mistakes had been wiped clean by summer.”― Wallace Stegner, Angle of Repose

Aug 31

Harvest the Fruit of this Day

“Extraordinary things are always hiding in places people never think to look.”― Jodi Picoult, My Sister’s Keeper

“Let July be July,
And let August be August.
And let yourself
just be
even in
the uncertainty.
You don’t have to fix everything.
You don’t have to solve everything.
And you can still find peace
and grow
in the wild
of changing things.” – Morgan Harper Nichols

August spilling into September.
Last days holding hands with first days.
Roots, fruits, harvest.
In the wild of changing things.
Breathing and grounding in love.
Participate, offer, partake.

“Love is not an equation, it is not a contract, and it is not a happy ending. Love is the slate under the chalk, the ground that buildings rise, and the oxygen in the air. It is the place you come back to, no matter where your headed”― Jodi Picoult

Aug 30

Wabi

“We exist with a wind whispering inside and our moon flexing. Amid the ducts, inside the basilica of bones.”― Jack Gilbert

“Our heart wanders lost in the dark woods. Our dream wrestles in the castle of doubt. But there’s music in us. Hope is pushed down but the angel flies up again taking us with her.”― Jack Gilbert, Collected Poems

Notes falling into music.
Basilicas rising.
Valiant blossoming.
Fruition to flourishing to folding.
New bloom awaits its turn.
Breaking through fertile soil.
Hope ascends.

“The Japanese think it strange we paint our old wooden houses when it takes so long to find the wabi in them. They prefer the bonsai tree after the valiant blossoming is over, the leaves fallen. When bareness reveals a merit born in the vegetable struggling.”― Jack Gilbert, Collected Poems

Aug 29

Muddled, Messy, Unedited

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes… Including you.” — Anne Lamott

“I’m not impressed by efficiency. That’s the truth.
And just because it’s quick, it doesn’t mean that it is masterly.
When it comes to poetry, I don’t think speed has ever really been the goal.
I think sometimes it takes ages
to find the right words for that small piece of your soul.
We are slowly mining language, searching for a gem.
And besides, everything I love is a little bit lumpy.
In this life, the things I most adore
are all so fabulously flawed:
The green corduroy coat, for example,
that patiently waits for winter in my hall—
the one that used to keep my mom warm, and now does the same for me,
with padding peeking out of the cuffs
and pockets clinging on for dear life;
Or the accidental butt-dial left by my friends—
the voicemail where I can hear them chanting for ABBA,
demanding one more song;
Or the dinner that’s burnt at the edges;
Or the apology typed mid-cry;
Or the way my trousers hug my belly;
Or texting, “Sorry, I forgot to reply.”
I really like—I love, actually—living in a way, in a place,
where nothing lines up quite right.
I want more of it. I want all of it:
The muddled. The messy.
The bits AI might edit out.
I am always going to opt for the higgledy-piggledy heartbeat,
the world with its cardigan on backwards,
covered in fingerprints, thumb-smudged, and warm.
I want an awkward pause.
I will choose the unedited pulse of things every single time.
The beauty of the almost,
the nearly there,
the not quite.
The things that remind me I am not sparkly or shiny,
or even really getting it right.
But I am.
We all are.
Undoubtedly alive.” – Georgie Jones

To an unedited, non-curated, honest, messy, fun day.
Steeped in the silly, ordinary, delight.
Flavors rising, colors deepening, light brightening.
The beauty of the almost and unfolding.
Undoubtedly alive and so much more than well.

 

Aug 28

Stubborn Gladness

“We are all meant to be mothers of God…for God is always needing to be born.”― Meister Eckhart

“We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure,
but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have
the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless
furnace of this world.”― Jack Gilbert, Refusing Heaven

Intuition, intention, trust
Seed, bud, bloom
Corners and crevices of delight
Ordinary and sameness transformed by presence and attention
To partake in the richness of this day
Free from analysis, measurement, comparison.
Living simply with gladness, grace, gratitude
Creation and re-creation.

“We must unlearn the constellations to see the stars.”― Jack Gilbert, The Great Fires

Aug 27

Glance to Gaze of Wild Things

“Even the sun directs our gaze away from itself and to the life illumined by it.”― Eberhard Arnold, Salt and Light

“I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.”― Wendell Berry

Thought
Not before or after
Here in this place
Glance to Gaze
Peace
Illumination
Imagination
Still waters
Grace flowing, overflowing.

“Run into peace.”― Meister Eckhart

Aug 26

Walk Out Love Daily, Cast Light

“Love is like a butterfly
As soft and gentle as a sigh
The multicolored moods of love are like its satin wings
Love makes your heart feel strange inside
It flutters like soft wings in flight
Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing”― Dolly Parton

“Cause I am strong and I can prove it
And I got my dreams to see me through
It’s just a mountain, I can move it
And with faith enough there’s nothing I can’t do

And I can see the light of a clear blue morning
And I can see the light of brand new day
I can see the light of a clear blue morning
And everything’s gonna be all right
It’s gonna be okay
[lyrics from “Light of a Clear Blue Morning”]”― Dolly Parton

Be kind, bright, generous.
Offer encouragement without measure.
Spread enthusiasm, joy, laughter.
Simple, we make it hard.
Do it anyway.
Love well, thoughts, words, actions.
Self and others.
Cast light.

“I always just thought if you see somebody without a smile, give’em yours!”― Dolly Parton

Aug 25

Skybounding

“The garden of the world has no limits, except in your mind.”― Rumi

“The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.”― Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams

Pull over.
Put down.
Look up.
Delight in this place and space.
Nowhere to be but here.

“Don’t keep searching for the truth; Just let go of your opinions.”― Elizabeth Lesser, Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow

← Older Entries