Category: Poem a Month

Opening
the door to Stillness –
greeting the Unchanging

Sitting with
the moon, stones,
crows, the river, stars –
remembering
we are One

Inhaling
the beauty and goodness
of Mother Earth from the
soles of our feet

Surrendering
names, maps, control,
certainty, hard edges,
masks, self-importance

Listening to,
embracing feelings –
inviting them to speak
and ask for what they need

Sharing
the ever-present Love
at our core with
the crying, hurting ones
in our brokenhearted
world

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Questions for Contemplation

If you feel drawn to do so, select a stanza in this poem that speaks to you. If you’d like to explore this further, write the lines at the top of a blank page. Take some time to relax and quiet your mind. When ready, you can either simply reflect on the lines and/or free write whatever comes to you in response to them.

Another option is to take the first stanza of the poem, reflect on that and either free write or write a poem in response to the words.

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I want to see you
as the simple Here
without stories
or add-ons or names
or boxes
or who you were
a moment ago,
a year ago,
two decades ago.
I want to see you
without tangling you
in my wishes and
resentments,
without judgment
or needing you to be
different from who you
are right now.

I want to see you with
deep eyes,
see you from my Soul,
from the thriving,
full places in my heart
and
I don’t want to be invested
in whether or not you
receive my Soul embrace
of you.

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Questions for Contemplation

What speaks to you in this poem? You can either just reflect on the question and/or write your response.

If you resonate with the content of the first stanza and would like to explore this further for yourself, you might write the first two lines at the top of a blank page:

“I want to see you
as the simple Here”

Then quiet your mind and sit with this for awhile. When you are ready, write whatever comes to you in the form of a free-write, poem, or story.

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Home
when I am not enticed
by the alluring promises
of gain and specialness

Home
when I stop feeding the
ravenous ‘me my mine,’
stay awake to the
everywhere pain and fear –
to the true hungers

Home
when I open the doors to
Silence,
leave the names and
identities behind,
embrace the Unchanging

Home
when I am faithful to the
Sacred wishes for our world

---

Questions for Contemplation

1. Is there a stanza in this poem that speaks to you and that you’d like to contemplate and perhaps also write about? If so, write the stanza at the top of a blank page and reflect on it for awhile. If you’d like to, write whatever insights, thoughts, feelings and images came to you. Sit with this for awhile, then ask yourself, “What else is there?” and contemplate whatever arises.
2. Create your own poem and have each stanza begin with “Home when I…”

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May I get out of the way,
sync with the pulse
of this day

May I quiet
the thought storms –
listen to
the Wisdom whispers
guiding me
to where my Soul
wants to be

---

Questions for Contemplation

What tools or practices help you ‘quiet the thought storms?’ How do you feel mentally, physically and emotionally when your mind is quiet? If you feel drawn to do so, write about one of these methods.

---

every crow and cloud
every apple blossom and thorn
every river and blade of grass

always knows
where to go
what to do
how to be

while we ask
why?
why not?
how?
when?
if?
and lose our way
again
again

until we remember

we are
every crow and cloud
we are 
every spider

---

Questions for Contemplation

If you feel drawn to do so, choose either the title of the poem or the first three lines and write a poem, story or free write in response to one of these two prompts. Take some time to relax and quiet your mind, then write whatever comes to you. After you’ve completed this writing, choose one word or phrase that stands out to you and free write in response to that for ten minutes.

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that aching ones can fall into
that are  
safe welcoming safe –
that will not
bite hate dismiss.

May I be eyes
I wished could have
looked at the infant me
with spacious Love,
see me as my own person,
ask “Who are you? 
What will you love in this life?”
May I be eyes
I wished could have
helped me build trust
inside my frightened heart,
eyes that could say 
“Yes. I am here.
You are not alone.”

May I be eyes 
that can see in the dark in
these harrowing times,
can welcome the tears   
that are raining in our world –
eyes that can offer Love.

---

Questions for Contemplation

What eyes are most helpful to you when you are sad, angry, or afraid?

When you were younger, what eyes were you drawn to and what eyes made you want to look away?

What eyes would you like to offer to those who are struggling in our world?

---

I cannot, will not
shield my heart
from the world pain

When I am numb
to others’ suffering,
I am frozen
in my own body-mind,
left to keep reinforcing
‘me my mine’

If I enter the deep
I can feel our
shared lives
shared sorrows
shared Love –
know our Oneness,
know that you are not other

If my heart needs
to weep every day
as I see, hear, feel
the anguish in our world,
I will let it weep

---

Questions for Contemplation

Is there a line, phrase or stanza in this poem that speaks to you? If so, take some time to relax and quiet your mind. When you are ready, contemplate or write in response to the words that you chose.

If you feel drawn to do so, write a poem, story or free write that begins with the words, “When I enter the deep…”

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In these times of turbulent
unrest for so many,
poems forests rivers songs
can be
our allies,
show us that their
rhythms and Wisdom
can be ours

They can help us
see hear feel touch
beauty as
a way of knowing
a way of being
a way of finding
Love in the pain
a way of living
a deep, Sacred life

---

Questions for Contemplation

What speaks to you in this poem? If you are drawn to explore this, take some time to relax and quiet your mind. Slowly read the poem again and become aware of feelings that are evoked in you or any words that stand out. Choose either a feeling or word(s) and then free write or reflect for 10-15 minutes on your selection.

If you want to take this further, choose a word or image from your writing or contemplation and then use that as a prompt for additional writing or reflection.

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Seams are sewn
by the dividing mind
Shrewd weaver –
knows how to trick us
knows how to scare away
our Stillness
our wild
our free

Sitting quietly today by
the creek with my duck,
squirrel, tree, dragonfly
friends
I am reminded that the
seamless sky is also the
sea is also every flutter of
every leaf is every stone –
also my voice my body
every tear of joy and grief
every ache and celebration

The mind whirrs, worries and
wants –
believes in time
believes in seams

Sitting quietly
Seamless Being

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Questions for Contemplation

1. What is your experience in the domains of body, mind, feelings and spirit when your thinking mind is quiet? If you are drawn to do so, take some time to reflect on some or all of these domains in relation to resting in stillness. 

2. What helps you still your linear mind?

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Dear Silence,
Please show me
your ways – again
I am beginning – again
Please take my knowing
Teach me to cherish
Not Knowing mind

Teach me to hear you
inside this noisy,
troubled world
Let me see You everywhere
because You are
Please help me remember
that Silence includes
and widens everything,
rounds the edges
of everything

Please give me words
that won’t create ache,
that will be helpful
when help is needed,
that will speak Love
to the pain in our world

Teach me to speak like
the mountain
the lizard
the lion
the forests
the sea

Deep bow

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Questions for Contemplation

Is there a phrase in this poem that speaks to you and that you’d like to contemplate? If so, take a few minutes to relax and quiet your mind – then bring the phrase into your awareness. Notice what images, feelings and/or physical sensations arise. Take some time to just be with whatever presents itself. Then, if you are drawn to do so, free write in response to a feeling, image, or sensation that was present for you.

What place does Silence have in your life? How is Silence beneficial for you? If you’d like to experience Silence more often, what realistic, attainable steps might you take to bring that about?

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