This Black Swan (native to Southern Australia) has been seen along Salmon Creek trail. May you find shelter in winged ones and poems, needed medicine for our spirits.
The Academy of American Poets has a new Spring project entitled “Shelter in Poems.” I am honored that an edited piece of my short reflection was included in their first post. As we enter National Poetry Month, may you have time to read and hear many poems that bring you courage, inspiration and hope for the journey.
In the stillness of the quiet, if we listen, we can hear the whisper of the heart giving strength to weakness, courage to fear, hope to despair.
— Howard Thurman
“Fasten your spiritual seat belt” – Stephanie Austin, Port Townsend, WA astrologer, often writes. https://www.ecoastrology.com/
The last two mornings, unexpected snow! Flowering plum, daffodils, crocus, and early Spring flowers are already blooming. A few deer in the yard eating birdseed out of the bird feeder and off the ground along with the Varied Thrush, song birds, squirrels and rabbits.
Each day of this global crisis I return to my perennial reminders to myself and others — now is a time for each one of us to access our spiritual and wellness practices, creative and gratitude practices, mindfulness and meditation practices. From these centering practices we bend to offer extra compassion, lovingkindness and care to ourselves (in every aspect of our lives) and to those around us. To remember our North Star, our compass, our guiding light.
There are many new on-line resources for poets, writers and community activists as well as those seeking connections. Look for invitations from YES! magazine to join in online conversations about solutions arising in your community and family, and to share ideas with others http://yesmagazine.org. The Greater Good website http://Greater Good and others resources for wellness during this challenging time. Moreover dear colleagues Francis Weller, Wisdom Bridge http://www.wisdombridge.net/ and John Fox, Institute of Poetic Medicine https://www.poeticmedicine.org/ share much wisdom.
May we take extra time to be in the natural world, to listen to the deer, the Spring migration of wild birds, the animals who gather in our yard. In the stillness of the quiet, if we listen, we can hear…
The deer arrived and the birds start singing before first light…
may we keep them singing in our hearts.
“The Columbia River is the fourth largest
river in the continental United States. Seven hundred seventy-one (771) of its
1,243 miles flow through the State of Washington, descending south from the
Canadian Rockies and eventually turning westward to create much of the border
between Washington and Oregon. For millennia, Native peoples have called its
banks home, developing a way of life in sync with the river’s energy, beauty
and power. The path of the river represents a confluence of waters, of memory,
of languages and ways of life, of human exploration and exploitation, of
ecological upheaval, and of change and possibility.”
– Claudia Castro Luna, Washington State Poet Laureate
May the peace and beauty of the season shine brightly in your heart. May your candle of hope illuminate the spaces around you. May you speak up for those whose voices have been silenced, care for those who are suffering. May you be inspired by the beauty of the natural world, and held in love.
This autumnal season has been full of enriching art, literary art and visual art with Clark County Open Studios, Sitka Art Invitational and Portland Book Festival, plus Audubon Wild Arts Festival later this month. Made on 23rd includes me as a Featured Artist: http://madeon23rd.com/
Grateful to hear many poets and writers including Diannely Antigua, Sally Wen-Mao, Morgan Parker, Paisley Rekdal, Jake Skeets, Dao Strom and others.
Plus the Astro Poets: Your Guides to the Zodiac
with Alex Dimitrov and Dorothea Lasky, a
perfect line up before a Taurus Full Moon, Scorpio Sun and Mercury Retrograde.
This New Moon in Scorpio turns the wheel of the year to Samhain, a liminal time of listening to the autumnal migration: Dusky Geese, Trumpeter Swans, and Sandhill Cranes overhead with yellow, orange, topaz, and gold leaves twirling to the ground while rain, wind, and darkness increases. May we honor our ancestors, listen to the spirits, celebrate this seasonal time of harvest and gratitude. May we release what we no longer need to carry, and invite in what we want in our lives.
Honeybee Haiku is the epigraph in my third book of poetry honored to have it on CTRAN buses, Poetry Moves Season 8 with K-12 student poems
On Sunday, October 20thRefugee & Migrant Rights Fundraiser: A reading and concert in support of
South Texas Humanitarian Border Aide. Kim Stafford, Ana Maria Ferreira, Sophia
Shalmiyev, Armin Tolentino and I will be
reading poetry.
