Poetry

"Poetry may make us from time to time a little more aware of the deeper, unnamed feelings which form the substratum of our being, to which we rarely penetrate; for our lives are mostly a constant evasion of ourselves."

-- T.S. Eliot

I AM A LITTLE CHURCH

- by E.E Cummings

i am a little church (no great cathedral)
far from the splendor and squalor of hurrying cities
—i do not worry if briefer days grow briefest,
i am not sorry when sun and rain make april

my life is the life of the reaper and the sower;
my prayers are prayers of earth’s own clumsily striving
(finding and losing and laughing and crying)children
whose any sadness or joy is my grief or my gladness

around me surges a miracle of unceasing
birth and glory and death and resurrection:
over my sleeping self float flaming symbols
of hope,and i wake to a perfect patience of mountains

i am a little church(far from the frantic
world with its rapture and anguish)at peace with nature
—i do not worry if longer nights grow longest;
i am not sorry when silence becomes singing

winter by spring,i lift my diminutive spire to
merciful Him Whose only now is forever:
standing erect in the deathless truth of His presence
(welcoming humbly His light and proudly His darkness)

Shadow Dancing

Shadows dancing with light
as sun sings away the night.
Light seeks dark
and darkness light

Who leads
this phantasmagoric
dance of shadow and light?

Whirling round and round
Swirling, twirling
twisting, turning
helical rushing
rapidly spiraling
faster
ever faster
into
one
singularity

black-white blurs
to blue
to red
exploding rainbows
consume the sky
in iridescent
glow


Darkness gazes enthralled
into the eyes of light,
mirrored by light’s captivated
twinkling stare
into darkness

There, paper thin
between
it is only I
who divides
them to
TWO

Pathways

by Chi_Shanay

Don't go back to sleep

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don't go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don't go back to sleep.

- Jalal-UD-DIN Rumi

Shadows

Darkness everywhere surrounds

Seemingly
no crack nor crevice not filled
no thought not cloaked
no feeling not skewered
by it’s ever insidious presence

Shadows and darkness,
the canvases on which we paint
our masterpiece
with brushes of light shining
from spirit and soul

A wondrous painting
with the wings of eagles
soaring amongst the heavens
filled with countless dazzling stars

So much more the painter
than the painting

Up and through what worlds
do we ascend transmuting
darkness always into light?

Beliefs, Cravings and self

We are a mystery and a wonder beyond all imagining. That which we crave and which engulfs our presence and souls are but, decorations we hang on our selves. Our beliefs faint glimmerings of who we are; bubbling up from our deepest self only to eventually float to the surface as knowings, then to burst as others deeper in our soul begin their ascent.

Then again perhaps, I am just so full of shit that my mind is just undergoing massive synaptic misfirings as my brain cells take their last gasp before oblivion. LOL

Twenty Five Books

I read a Blog with a challenge, to create a list of 25 books that describe your personality (or personalities, since many parts of who I am seem to be in a state of confliction). The list shouldn't necessarily be of your favorite books (although they may apply), but rather a list of books that, if read in their entirety, would describe the essence of your personality(s) and worldview. Here is my first cut at my 25. I’ve included a brief explanation or comments on my choices. I challenge you to do the same.

Poetry:

1. The Dream of Being by Jack Haas. - Many of these speak something from inside that I couldn’t put into words.

2. Collected Poems by Sylvia Plath - Because there is often a darkness which seems to engulf me for a time before I am catapulted into the light again only to fall back into the abyss and the whole cycle repeats. Quietly of course, inside my private world.

3. Collected Poems by Robert Graves - So many of these are songs from my own soul.

4. Swallowed by Darkness by Anna M Williams - Same a # 2. I know the darkness well and often call it home.

5. My Secret is SILENCE, Poetry and sayings by Adyashanti - Yes, there is also peace, silence and bliss; in the quietness of the moment.


Fiction:

1. The Fountain by Darren Aronofsky - Some experiences seem to transcend time and I understand much of the main character through my own experiences.

2. The More Than Complete Hitchhiker’s Guide by Douglas Adams - Absurd yes but, so are many of my own thoughts, comments and sense of humor. LOL

3. Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes - Is this my life’s story? It often feels that way but, I can be no other that who I dream myself to be.

4. The Bridge Across Forever by Richard Bach - Still searching, perhaps I am just in the wrong world. LOL

5. Seth Speaks by Jane Roberts - Opened up an understanding of the multidimensionality of who I am from reading the whole series.


Non-Fiction:

1. The Outsider by Colin Wilson - Because I am and have always known myself to be an outsider.

2. The Way of Wonder by Jack Haas - Wonder is the magic that is life and joy, everything else is illusion.

3. The Selected Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson - “Standing on the bare ground, - my head bathed by the blithe air, & uplifted into infinite space, - all mean egotism vanishes. I became a Transparent Eyeball!” I still remember these words from 8th grade English and even to this day I still sometimes know what it is to become a transparent eyeball.

4. The Nature Writings of Henry David Thoreau - In nature is the only place I feel even remotely at home.

5. Oration on the Dignity of Man by Giovanni Pico Della Mirandola - Even as losers our dignity as divine beings can never be taken away. We grow stronger with our losses than from our winning.

6. Radical Ecstasy by Dossie Easton and Janet Hardy - Because ecstasy is often found on the fringes, never in the vanilla world, at least for me. LOL

7. Kindling the Celtic Spirit by Mara Freeman - Because my soul and spirit have deep Celtic roots and this kindles my spirit.

8. The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle - There is nothing else but now.

9. All and Everything, a trilogy by G. I. Gurdjieff - Gurdjieff’s 4th way resonated deeply with my being.

10. When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron - Because they too often do and they just are what they are, we make the meaning and the stories of them that fill our memories and often masquerade as now.

11. Total Freedom by J. Krishnamurti - Question everything, even your own questions and intentions. When you finally run your minds batteries run down, then you see.

12. The Mist-Filled Path by Frank MacEowen - Again my Celtic spiritual roots. This one is subtitled “Celtic Wisdom for Exiles, Wanderers, and Seekers” and yes I am.

13. Henry Miller on Writing, selections by Thomas H. Moore - Be who you are and give finger to anyone who feels you aren’t what they feel you should be.

14. The Book, On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are by Alan Watts - A taboo which always gets in the way of life’s purpose. Knowing it is there, is the first step.

15. The Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan Watts - Like listening to the silence behind the noise, there is wisdom and joy with being with what is, this moment.

I Will Not Whisper

by Adyashanti from the book "my secret Is SILENCE"

I want to speak to you about love
about how you deny yourself
its slightest entry
about how much you truely fear
Love's silent embrace.

I want to talk to you
about what you will not
allow yourself to see--
about that beauty inside
that you turn your face from.

Yes, I want to talk to you.
You who have somehow
found a way to hide
within a sliver of darkness
cast upon the pure light of Being.

I want to talk to you.
I will not whisper.

You can live in the sliver of darkness forever
and tell yourself lies.
You can blame yourself.
You can blame others.
You can blame God and beyond.
And still that Love that you are will wait
until you can tell yourself
the lie of denial no more.

And at that very moment
you will see
just how silent Love's embrace can be.
And in that silence
the truth will ring clear.
Love demands everything:
all of your illusions
excuses and fears.

I want to speak to you about Love.
I want to talk to you about
what you will not allow
yourself to be.

I want to talk to you.
I will not whisper.