Monday, September 19, 2022

9/19/22 Mary Oliver Poem Geese and Drawing

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.

from Dream Work by Mary Oliver

published by Atlantic Monthly Press

Thursday, May 26, 2022

5/26/22 A Meditation on Grief / Jack Kornfield From Gratefulness

"When after heavy rain the storm clouds disperse, is it not that they’ve wept themselves clear to the end? —Ghalib"

"Grief is one of the heart’s natural responses to loss. When we grieve we allow ourselves to feel the truth of our pain, the measure of betrayal or tragedy in our life. By our willingness to mourn, we slowly acknowledge, integrate, and accept the truth of our losses. Sometimes the best way to let go is to grieve."

Friday, May 13, 2022

5/13/22 The Tragedy of War. We Have A Choice. Why Do Humans Choose War? Moving Poems From Ukraine War Poetry in Ukraine: Serhiy Zhadan and Lyuba Yakimchuk

There are two sides to everything. Somethings like night and day we can't change although electricity has allowed our nights to be brighter. When we have a choice we often choose that which makes our life better. War in human terms does not make life better for anyone except perhaps governments or certain businesses ( war it is said helps economies).

When you see the destruction in Ukraine and all around the world you wonder what have we as a human collective done to this glorious planet and to ourselves and each other. Who in their right mind would choose suffering over peace for all? Who could defend bombing magnificent museums, defenseless civilians, children, relics, hospitals, peoples' homes and innocent animals? It really seems to come down to what you believe, have been taught or experienced in your life.

Isn't it time collectively to stop wars? Don't you want that? Don't you want to experience the earth being free of man made pollution, new ways to provide food and freedom for those struggling, new forms of governments that promote freedoms and resources for all? Don't you want to experience higher states of inner peace and happiness, live up to your potential? See your families prosper?

Lets stop the suffering.

Remember beyond nationality and race we are the same. Maya Angelou said

“We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.”

― Maya Angelou, The Complete Collected Poems

The Human Tragedy of War

Poets From Ukraine- W Serhiy Zhadan and Lyuba Yakimchuk

https://lareviewofbooks.org/short-takes/war-poetry-in-ukraine-serhiy-zhadan-and-lyuba-yakimchuk/

Sunday, April 10, 2022

4/10/22 Check Out Solstice, a magazine of diverse voices

https://solsticelitmag.org/our-mission/

4/10/22 Another Time, Another War Poetry W.H. Auden

September 1, 1939

W. H. Auden

"I sit in one of the dives

On Fifty-second Street
Uncertain and afraid
As the clever hopes expire
Of a low dishonest decade:
Waves of anger and fear
Circulate over the bright
And darkened lands of the earth,
Obsessing our private lives;
The unmentionable odour of death
Offends the September night.

Accurate scholarship can
Unearth the whole offence
From Luther until now
That has driven a culture mad,
Find what occurred at Linz,..."

Read the rest at Poets.org

https://poets.org/poem/september-1-1939?mc_cid=bbbd87e82

Wednesday, January 12, 2022

1/12/2022 " Poems for Peace Young people living in conflict use poetry to express their hopes for a more peaceful future."

Mandala for fearlessness. We need to be fearless in our pursuit of inner and outer peace.

Poems for Peace

Young people living in conflict use poetry to express their hopes for a more peaceful future.

https://www.unicef.org/children-under-attack/poems-for-peace

Tuesday, November 23, 2021

11/23/2021 The Genius of Bob Dylan His Music is Relevant in Our World Today.

The Times They Are A-Changin'

Bob Dylan

Come gather 'round people, wherever you roam
And admit that the waters around you have grown
And accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the bone
And if your breath to you is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin' or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'

Come writers and critics who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide, the chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon, for the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who that it's namin'
For the loser now will be later to win
'Cause the times they are a-changin'

Come senators, congressmen, please heed the call
Don't stand in your doorway, don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt, will be he who has stalled
'Cause the battle outside ragin'
Will soon shake your windows and rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'

Come mothers and fathers throughout the land
And don't criticise what you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one if you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'

The line it is drawn, the curse it is cast
The slowest now, will later be fast
As the present now will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin'
And the first one now will later be last
'Cause the times they are a-changin'

Songwriters: Bob Dylan

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=bob+dylan+lyyrics+tiems+they+are+a+chnaging&docid=608010285160284639&mid=52857A35DC4F8CD838BE52857A35DC4F8CD838BE&view=detail&FORM=VIRE

Updated Version 2018 Dylan on Jimmy Fallon Show

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=bob+dylan+lyyrics+tiems+they+are+a+chnaging&&view=detail&mid=6565E8AF71D91C2C831D6565E8AF71D91C2C831D&&FORM=VDRVRV