Goldfinch

A tender rescue of a fallen goldfinch was recently related to me by my niece, Shonna. I wrote this poem from her point of view.  The pictures are of the little bird she and her husband scooped up and protected until it regained consciousness and was again able to fly.

   

It landed at my feet

Unconscious

A tiny yellow creature

Dropped from the sky

A flash of gold

Into the window

Now out cold

Feet drawn up

A twitch from time to time

Helpless and suddenly old

Lifted to my cheek

A palm full of feathers

A life on hold

Dragon Poem Edit

In my last post, I left the last line of the poem out.  I have now corrected it.  So, please have another look at The Waking Dragon that now includes the important last line.

This poem was suggested after a program I attended focusing on the Chinese New Year, which is the year of the dragon.  At the time I was reading Mary Oliver’s  A Poetry Handbook.  I used some of her building blocks to construct this poem.  The main tool I used was to repeat a “horizontal” theme throughout the poem. So the images in the poem are all strongly horizonal in nature.  While I hope you are not aware of this tool on a conscious level, I hope it does have an impact on the overall power of the poem.

 

The Waking Dragon

 

 

 

 

 

The scales shift

Like slate shingles

In an earthquake

The tongue shoots out

Like a blowtorch

Beyond the end of the sea

To lick up truth

Where wisdom sleeps

Cherry Tree in February

 

 

 

 

 

 

The golden muse

Called her forth

“It is time to unfold”

He kissed her limbs

She blushed with desire

….she would not be told

She gave herself to the light

And opened to the warmth

And now in the icy dark

As the first flake falls

She knows she sold her soul

Awakening

Hibiscus at sunrise, Gail Sandler

We wake each day

As a void

A frightened vessel

Amid the darkness

To balance ourselves

In the promise of dawn

And stumble toward

The gift of our life

 

Trees in Winter

They are skeletons now

With their black bones

Poking holes in bottom of the sky

Leaves killed by the cold

Afterward the wind picked the carcass clean

But deep inside the

Marrow holds

The memory of spring

There is a book!

The book that my friend, Judith Smith and I have been working on over the past year is now out.  It is called:  Bring Yourself: A Poetic Guide to Deepening your Yoga Postures. I wrote the poems and Judy painted the asana images.  Many of you have encouraged and supported me from the beginning of this project.  So, I’m very excited to share the news that it is published.

The poems in the book were initially triggered by meditation and yoga classes.  I have been fortunate to have several excellent yoga teachers.  The first two were Joanne Marshall at UNC and Pat Connolly at the UNC Wellness Center.  Both are outstanding, dedicated instructors who really opened the world of yoga to me.  Then I was introduced to Barbara Lang, who always begins her class with a poem. This wonderful practice and ritual of reading a poem out loud really spoke to me and fused the mind/body experience.  The reading of poems in class signals a departure from the noisy outside world into a quiet, spiritual world where stillness invites a clearing of chaos.  A world where the present moment and the breath are the focus.  A world where you are able to hear your own inner voice.  I responded so strongly to this practice that I began having words flood into my head during and after class.  I could hardly wait to get to a pen to start jotting words, ideas and images down before they evaporated.

So, what’s inside the book?  A number of yoga postures with a poem that is connected to each asana.

My hope in publishing this book is that it might just open a flood gate in you as you read the words and view the images. We all have unique, authentic gifts to share.  We sometimes only need a spark of inspiration and perhaps the permission to allow ourselves time and space to discover or rediscover our own creative talents.

Bring Yourself is available at Womancraft Gallery in Eastgate Mall  as well as Frank Gallery on Franklin Street, both in Chapel Hill.  It is also available through the publisher, Rosenberry Books, 919. 969.2767 or 800.723.0336.