May 7th 2014

Waiting

"I learned that waiting is a part of the work."

                                             -Seamus Heaney

First you wait for inspiration -- even though

you're told that real writers write every day

You send the work out.

Now you are in the waiting arena again.

Editors are not swift with their responses.

Weeks, months go by. You check websites,

you check & recheck your records. And if

you sent hard copies of your work, you wonder

if the mail got through or are you waiting in vain.

Animals wait

       patiently

and never count

       the cost

of their lost time.

May 6th 2014

Fruit Of The Vine

Do you read something special in

this heading? 

Dwell for a minute on the meaning 

& the metaphor.

There are so many kinds of 

fruit that grow on a vine.

Are we the branches of the vine

or the worker in the field? 

The fruit belongs to both.

. . . Amen

May 5th 2014

Happiness vs Joy

Happiness can be fleeting. 

Joy is a condition of the soul.

Life's a zoo. You've said it yourself.

Happiness is not

always

pink candy spun out of air.

Sometimes it's a gorilla sitting

satisfied in careful attention

to something you cannot see.

You wave your arms

frantically wanting it

to dance or swing

which it does 

when

you are not looking.

                               -Kathleen Gunton

              ©2010 New Mexico Poetry Review

May 4th 2014

Audrey Hepburn

How many young girls entered the convent

after seeing The Nun's Story? We'll never

know. Sister Luke remains one of the

most iconic nuns in the film industry.

Thank you Audrey Hepburn, who would

have been eighty-five years old today.

Did you know her dream as a child was 

to be a ballerina? Dance on lovely lady. . .

May 3rd 2014

Inner World Outer World

Today is the birth day of May Sarton. A writer who

earned the title through years of writing without

the recognition she deserved.

May Sarton shared her inner world and

the outer world of her surroundings.

She kept Journals; she wrote poetry and fiction.

And maybe because she took time to 

recognize her readers (often writing to them),

she will never be forgotten.

                    

May 2nd 2014

Simple, Supple Poppy . . . but 

Try to photograph this plant in even the slightest wind

and you will discover an ever-changing abstract. 

In stillness though, the flower is complex--beautiful.

Sometimes when we are quiet and calm the spirit shows

us our own try beauty.

Complex Beauty

May 1st 2014

 BOOK HUNGER

Sometimes we read a book and we suddenly need to read 

it again. A line gets stuck between our teeth and we need to

find it in print, and pick out that line to be sure we 

remembered it correctly. 

Because I Was Flesh (The Autobiography of Edward Dahlberg)

published by New Directions is one such powerhouse.

If you think you know the Bible; if you pride yourself

in knowing Greek mythology--you will find this book

amazing.

How's this: "Mea culpa is the cry of all bones."

You could read this book all over again for such a line.

Every Time A Bookstore Closes

We Lose