Category: Poem a Month

In these troubled times
are we closer to the roots
as we witness a shattering of the old,
as vaults of dark secrets
are being cracked open?

Are we, at times, relieved
that scabs are being
ripped off,
that wounds and injustices
can be seen
and breathe now?

Is our buried grief
being unearthed?
Do we feel the unspoken laments
of our ancestors
as we let in the heartbreak
of our abandoned sisters and brothers
who’ve been cast out for millennia?

Is the inhumanity
firing us up
to love more?

Can we show our tails?
Growl. Howl. Roar.
Let our hearts bleed openly?
Come out of hiding?
Get real?

What about Mother Earth?
Can we see our greed and selfishness
with raw eyes?
See what we have stolen,
what we have destroyed?
Cry for Her?
Help Her?

Are we able
to see our Oneness
and commit to foster healing?
Can we be Love?

Are we inspired
to gather in the streets,
at altars,
in temples,
at the sea,
to become humble
before the Divine?
Serve our sorrowing world?

Questions for Contemplation

What are your considerations and feelings about the times we are living in? How do you think about the challenges facing our planet and so many communities, groups and individuals?

Are there particular stanzas in this poem that speak to you?

If you would like to explore the heart of these concerns for yourself, contemplation and/or free writing can be helpful practices. Reflect on what is being evoked in you with regard to a particular concern or numerous matters. If you are drawn to doing so, you can also explore ways that you might help to foster healing in our world.

Resistance.
Sit at her feet
silent   still.
Be a safe invitation.
Open receive her open
so she can soften,
then whisper kindness
to her edges.
Listen.
Watch with the eyes of your Soul.
She may find her story,
unfold,
ask you to understand
and guide her
to a welcoming nest
for her pain,
to a welcoming nest
where she can heal.

Questions for Contemplation

There is an invitation in this poem to open to resistance when you experience it. When we open to obstacles rather than ‘resist’ them there is an opportunity to see deeper into them and discover what might be underlying the difficult state. Obstacles can be messengers from the psyche pointing us to something that may need our attention.

Sentence completion is a simple writing exercise to explore resistance, or blocks and stuckness of any kind.

Complete the sentences, taking 5 minutes for each one. Relax, let go and keep your hand moving without thinking about the responses as you write. Here are some examples, but you can create your own.

1. The feelings (or issues) behind my resistance to working on the project are __________________

2. When I ask my resistance what it wants to convey to me, it says __________________

3. What I can do to work with what is beneath the resistance is __________________

I cut out tiny shapes
from Japanese papers:
fans
cranes
temples
butterflies
chrysanthemums,
glue them
in harmonious relationships
to the paper
to each other
to my eyes, hand and heart.

I draw anything and everything:
small, detailed
fish
stones
leaves
doors
gates
shoes
umbrellas
in pen and ink,
then brighten them
with color.

A memory.
Young me
quiet in my room
cutting out paper clothes
for paper dolls,
stringing together tiny glass beads,
painting miniature ceramic pieces:
hearts
horses
cats
angels.
Feeling safe,
with glimmers of joy.

Being found me,
gave me ways
to stay steady,
find home
in this uncertain world
and helped me
trust beauty
as a compass.

Questions for Contemplation

When you were young and had some time to yourself, what did you enjoy doing that was fulfilling and helped you connect to yourself? Do you still engage in any of those activities? If not, what do you currently do that settles and fulfills you?

What meaning and place does beauty hold in your daily life? If you wish to include more beauty, what might that look like? How does beauty affect you?

She extends her hand.
Stone, I am.
Stone.

Sadness says,
“You will fall.
I will be with you.
You will break.
I will take the pieces
and turn them into gold.
You will wail an ocean.
I will teach you to swim.
You won’t know who you are.
I will walk beside you
as you shed the skins
you never were.”

Questions for Contemplation

In the first stanza of this poem there is resistance to connecting to sadness. What is your relationship to sadness? How do you typically respond when you begin to feel sad about anything, eg., a loss, a difficult conversation, a friend’s hardship, a family struggle, the challenges of these times?

Relax, close your eyes and imagine that you are in a conversation with sadness, represented by a symbol such as a broken heart or dark cloud. Ask what it wants to say to you about a situation in your life that is evoking sadness. You can also engage further with the symbol and ask any other questions that are meaningful to you.

Take dictation
from the flat stones
in the river bed.
They speak secrets.

Attend a gathering of trees.
Watch them in communion
with the wind.

Fall into
Earth’s belly.
Hear her cries.

Find the children
who brought pieces
of heaven with them.
Ask them what life looks like.

Make your way through the dark nooks
bends
hideouts
of the city.

Touch hearts
with our forgotten sisters and brothers.
Invite them to speak their raw pain.

Converse with
illness
healing
birth
death
the underworld
and
the Infinite.

Sink into long, quiet times.
Turn towards the fissures and stars
in your heart.
Study your heart
from the inside.

Now tell the stories.

Questions for Contemplation

Is there any phrase or stanza that stands out for you to explore further? Choose one and reflect on it for a while. What is evoked in you?

Do you feel drawn to be in conversation with ‘illness, healing, birth, death, the underworld or the Infinite?’ You can personalize any of these, e.g. your father’s illness, your healing from an injury. Using your healing as an example – find a comfortable place to sit, close your eyes and relax more and more deeply with each outgoing breath. Then let an image appear that represents your healing, such as a star or flowering plant. Imagine a conversation between you and the image as if you’re in dialogue with a trusted friend. You are speaking and listening to each other, and either of you might have questions you’d like to ask. Another option other than this self-guided imagery is to write down the conversation.

What do you find when you ‘turn towards the fissures and stars in your heart?’ Either reflect on what you discover or free write what comes to you.

This morning,
you are shining blonde hair,
full belly laughing,
a field of glow.

My heart falls into place.
I remember you
clutching your belly
on the cold tile floor
in the Boston hotel,
writhing
burning
silent screams.
You needed me
to stay back.
I have never felt so helpless.

Disease is a cauldron,
boils us to the core,
disrupts
dismantles
strips layers of seeming safety.
Disease keeps us in not knowing,
stretches us beyond
where we think we can go.
Forges us in its heat.
Transforms.
Humbles.

You tend to this wisely
in your quiet ways.
Grace is known to you.
Pain and fire,
the teachers that
turn you towards
the Sacred.

I do not know
all the ways of your mind
or see all the times
you fall to your knees.
Yet it is clear today
by your restful smile
that you are watering
holy seeds
and sit,
cupped,
In the hands of the Universe.

Questions for Contemplation

Has illness impacted you or someone close to you?

What are the ways that this experience has challenged or stretched you?

If your experience with illness has been transformative, what are some of the meaningful ways that this has changed you? For example, are there qualities, such as patience, courage, trust or compassion that have opened in you?

Has this illness been a ‘teacher’ for you? What have you learned about yourself and life?