Author: Christina's Words

“The darkness around us is deep.” ~ William Stafford

“Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note” by Amiri Baraka

On By Christina's WordsIn Poetry

Lately, I’ve become accustomed to the way
The ground opens up and envelopes me
Each time I go out to walk the dog.
Or the broad edged silly music the wind
Makes when I run for a bus…

Things have come to that.

And now, each night I count the stars.
And each night I get the same number.
And when they will not come to be counted,
I count the holes they leave.

Nobody sings anymore.

And then last night I tiptoed up
To my daughter’s room and heard her
Talking to someone, and when I opened
The door, there was no one there…
Only she on her knees, peeking into

Her own clasped hands

 

Amiri Baraka: Online Poems, via The Modern American Poetry Site

This week of Words is being hosted by Ms. Myriam Joseph Loeschen. We hope you are enjoying her inspiring and transformative selections. Thank you, Myriam, for supporting and joining us this week and, of course, for the beautiful Words. ~ Christy

“Everything is Waiting for You” by David Whyte

On By Christina's WordsIn Poetry2 Comments

Your great mistake is to act the drama
as if you were alone. As if life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
out your solo voice You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream-ladder to divinity.
Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into
the conversation. The kettle is singing
even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
have left their arrogant aloofness and
seen the good in you at last. All the birds
and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.

— David Whyte
from Everything is Waiting for You
©2003 Many Rivers Press

This week of Words is being hosted by Ms. Myriam Joseph Loeschen. We hope you are enjoying her inspiring and transformative selections. Thank you, Myriam, for supporting and joining us this week and, of course, for the beautiful Words. ~ Christy

“Allow” by Danna Faulds

On By Christina's WordsIn Poetry1 Comment

There is no controlling life.
Try corralling a lightning bolt,
containing a tornado.  Dam a
stream and it will create a new
channel.  Resist, and the tide
will sweep you off your feet.
Allow, and grace will carry
you to higher ground.  The only
safety lies in letting it all in –
the wild and the weak; fear,
fantasies, failures and success.
When loss rips off the doors of
the heart, or sadness veils your
vision with despair, practice
becomes simply bearing the truth.
In the choice to let go of your
known way of being, the whole
world is revealed to your new eyes.

~ Danna Faulds

This week of Words is being hosted by Ms. Myriam Joseph Loeschen. We hope you are enjoying her inspiring and transformative selections. Thank you, Myriam, for supporting and joining us this week and, of course, for the beautiful Words. ~ Christy

“Pain of Process” by Myriam Joseph Loeschen

On By Christina's WordsIn Poetry4 Comments

Editor note: I’m very pleased to introduce Ms. Myriam Joseph Loeschen. Myriam will be guest-hosting Words for the Year this week, and has personally selected some beautiful, inspiring and transformative pieces for your consideration. Enjoy this week’s “Words With Myriam.” ~ Christy

Pain of Process

Each journey through any transformative process brings excruciating demands.  Life meets us where we look towards, responding to our inner callings and secret whispers. As we stand at the shore of the ocean at the most golden hour holding the wish “I want to be doing this in my career”, or secretly whispering out into the cold crisp air of a mountaintop at dawn “this far away place is calling me universe, get me there” it is our spirit that stands along side us and takes notes. Before we are fully aware, of what is ours to take, we find ourselves in the midst of moving towards that which was our most wanted change or secret dream. While the external of the dream or wish or change, looked exactly as we wanted and we knew we could “rock” if only someone would lead us there, we invite opportunity and possibility without the full understanding of what internal work will be required of us to land where our heart desires. Suddenly in the midst, we find ourselves standing in the depths of “how did I get here”, feeling alone and afraid. Lucky for us poetry can serve as a traveling companion during the painful, scary moments of a transformative process. Not to say that any one poem will ever bring one safely to shore, for we must do the swimming and work alone, but hopefully a poetry can serve as a life line as you swim the rough waters.

Each of the poems you will read this week has been selected for you to grasp, whether in despair or in joy. You are encouraged to read each poem more than once and when you find the one that resonates with you most deeply, hold on for dear life.

~ Myriam Joseph Loeschen

***

The song I have come to sing
remains unsung to this day.
I have spent my life
stringing and unstringing
my instrument.

~ Rabindranath Tagore, from “song number 13,” Gitanjali

 

 

“Like Tangled Hair” by Dōgen

On By Christina's WordsIn Music, Poetry

Like tangled hair,
The circular delusion
Of beginning and end,
When straightened out,
A dream no longer.

~ Dōgen

***

“Tangled Up In Blue” by Bob Dylan