This summer as I was traveling across America, we came across this park at sunset in Springfield, Illinois. A serendipitous surprise gift. ..a metaphor for my new life adventure.
Sunset Park twilight
My soul meditation dance
Peace song in color
I can’t wait to continue to unravel my Chautauqua little by little for more of life’s gifts
Ba boom
Ba boom
Ba boom
The tribal beat reverberates through my body
From crown to root
Root to crown and to the heavens
I feel its healing sound
Truth radiating inside
Drummm drummm
Drummm drummm
All souls to center
Inhaling gifts
Exhaling all things
Which no longer serve
Experiencing only this clear present moment
Drummm drummm
Drummm drummm
No longer
is my heartbeat my own
One circle
One tribe
We are home
This is a tribute to Katie Jo and her drum circles for peace and unity.
May her dream of “One Circle, One Tribe” be realized…beginning at World Parliament of Religions.
And here is a link to show you the power of sound….Think of what can be changed with the power of one heart beat. Namaste
p.s. Katie Jo made my drum. The picture doesn’t do it justice to the detail and work she put into it.
I remember last summer
You were sitting at the table
Like so many summers before
With skilled hand piercing
watermelon skin
And with a fluid motion
Began the ritualistic carving
I had seen you do this
Hundreds of times
But not through these eyes
These eyes savoring precious moments
These eyes watching an ordinary act
As if it were extraordinary
You cut it in circles
Then slicing them in half, forming tasty boats
And the knife followed the
Curve of the boat
To free melon from the rind
Then up, down, up, down,
making cubes
on the curved “u” stand
Lightly salted
And a knife stab of a savory chunk
Plopped it in your mouth
How I remember
I hadn’t eaten mine
For I was mesmerized
In the moment
Watching your face light with delight
At each piquant morsel
A sweet summer treat
I did and didn’t know
that would be the last time.
-This post serves as my “I Remember,” a collaboration with fellow writers, and as savoring a precious memory of my daddy.
Sometimes the beauty of knowing that someone is in their last days, you hold on to the how extraordinary ordinary moments are.” Sounds like another collaboration of “extraordinary ordinary.”
#ilivepoetry. Finding joy in just “bee-ing”. Lessons learned from nature.
Sunflowers bloom like crazy! Little did I know that when I planted sunflowers that I would get GIANT flowers whose enormity takes up my entire garden. I was hoping for a few sunflowers…but I got them in dozens. They grew over the top of my solarium. They shadowed all my vegetables and even killed some plants begging for the sunlight they so graciously took.
But I’m not mad at them…they are GLORIOUS! Their bulbous faces to the sun. Their majestic power and strength. Their ability to bring joy on the most cloudy day. I love sunflowers for they represent my favorite word in the world: JOY. Whose face can’t be brightened by the presence of a sunflower?
Now on to the metaphors. My sunflowers have been through some really tough times. There have been three hefty storms pushing at them and trying to knock them down. Currently, some of their faces are to the ground because the last storm hit them so hard, and I need someone to assist in getting them back up. Even in this adversity, they continue to “shine on.”
I’ve been taking pictures of their various states throughout the summer. As I pondered on these, I realized they represent metaphors of life.
The storms knocked this one down and the roots are hanging on by a thread, but this one pursued, draping across the porch and shooting up! (Not an easy feat, but we can all learn something from this)
The middle one is frazzled and lost all his hair, but is still surrounded by his friends holding him up.
The”different” one in the bunch…not like the others, but”blooming” where its planted.
Face to the ground…knocked down…but still growing…these lovelies will soon get assistance.
Shine on.
Be beautiful.
Be MASSIVE!!!
Namaste my friends…and be as bold as a sunflower…under any conditions…no matter what, just bloom.
Marie
“Chautauqua”-: Today, it is “experiencing a renaissance. People are discovering that lifelong learning is one of the keys to living a happy, fulfilling life.” I am so grateful this word, and this experience entered my life!
So this summer, I had been struggling a little with identity as I quit my long term career path as a teacher.
I had wanted to be a teacher since I was a little girl. I had the courage to go back to school as a young mom in my late twenties and began teaching as my second career. Ah…I loved it! But the demands as a teacher were more than I could do and still pursue my other dreams of writer and writing coaching, so I didn’t renew my contract.
Enter, new phase in my life. I’ve ALWAYS worked, and now I got to trust what came next. Granted, I was lost. I felt I had lost my tribe and that I didn’t belong anywhere and that I was alone on my journey. Enter, my friend, who is a counselor. He was EXCITED about my new journey and said I was RIPE for discovery and he couldn’t believe all that was out there for me. You should have seen his face, grinning ear to ear, as if he knew a secret that I didn’t know. Then, add in to the conversation, I’m about to take a trip across America with my husband for two and half weeks, and I thought he would vault out of the chair, and the grin that I didn’t think could get bigger, took up his whole face.
That’s when he let me in on the secret of “Chautauqua. The way he introduced it to me was that I go into my travels without any expectations. Be open. Be honest. Enjoy. Also, not to hold on to any specific outcomes. I took all this to mean ABSORB. My great mantra of #ILivePoetry was my first thought….treat each day as a poetic experience. What do I see? really see? What if I stop and notice more? What if I take pictures from the under sides of things? What do I hear? Songs of the cicada? Ocean waves? What do I taste? Are there new tastes? New food? Old favorites in a new way? Experience it all.
Being open to an experience and drinking….no GULPING it in is way different than just doing it. I LIVED it. I truly “lived poetry.” My take on poetry is that it’s the best words, in the best order, in the tiniest of packages but the most explosive of moments. I truly got to live my live. Then suddenly, the worries diminish, life’s blessings show up in the most unusual ways. I noticed things in ways and places I hadn’t before.
In the next couple of weeks, I will randomly post my experiences. I thought I might go by towns and stops along the way…not sure how it will look, just sharing. It will be poetry unfolding. And as I showcase my experiences, you’ll see my definition of a Chautauqua. Namaste my friends.
I’ve been traveling across America, and I could hardly wait to get home and post for Texture Tuesdays with Narami. I look forward to it every week, even if I don’t post. There are so many great things we see if we just pay attention and look closer, and there are a plethora of finds out there from State to State. Posting along the way proved to be difficult with sparse to little internet. KOA camps try to have internet, but alas, their setup doesn’t always work but for maybe email.
The cool part is I should have enough pictures (over 5,000) to find something to meet the challenges for many Tuesdays to come!
Enjoy some of these pictures of landscape from Wyoming…truly one of the prettiest parts of the country from sunsets to wide open country, even the clouds are curiously shaped. Have you ever seen anything so fluffy? It looks like it came from a whipped cream can. Have fun!
White Christmas in Idaho
Snowflake lace
captured on my tongue
Snow blankets covering
the countryside with its loveliness
Sparkly jewels glittering with the sun
I can see why they call it
Winter “WONDER” land
because it creates magic
wherever it goes.
I live poetry in the Winter Wonderland.
#Ilivepoetry
It’s poetry when you get to play
This little piggy went to the market
With your 77 year old father and he…
Gets all excited for the wee wee wee
All the way home part.
(He does it by the third toe
and scares you.)
And then 2 days later hear
The same song is sung by a mom to
Her 2 year old and hear the child
Say “again, mama, again.”
And imagining your daddy
Being that 2 year old saying that to his mama.
If you and I were having coffee…
I’d tell you that you were perfect,
perfect in all your perfections.
I love that you are raw and real
and honest with me.
It gives me permission to be myself.
If you and I were having coffee
I would just ask you how you are…
not some trite “How are you?” question
but a genuine, tell me how and who you are.
What makes your heart beat?
What gives you heart fireworks?
How do you LIVE? More importantly,
how do you live POETICALLY?
You see, there is living,
and there’s LIVING.
Tell me about it.
~Namaste my friends.
Writing Wings For You 