I went biking around Greenlake with my daughter this afternoon so I decided to make my bricolage there with whatever I found. The graffiti was already on the table and I love it. Love the color and the form. My rule was that everything had to come from the ground. You will see that the date is made up from the objects in the piece. I loved doing this. It took a long time to get it just right and I found it very meditative. As we biked home at twilight after biking for about ten miles, I felt so renewed.
Today’s word(s) “waking-life”, comes from Michael Meade‘s book Fate and Destiny: The Two Agreements of the Soul. This book is so good. So devourable. If you’ve never seen Meade speak or been to one of his workshops, I highly recommend it. You will come away altered. I count him as one of my most beloved and revered teachers. Today’s quote comes from the book I mentioned:
photographic evidence of me doing the word choosing
When we ignore the limits of fate and thehints of destiny we tighten the unconscious web of our lives. Eventually, we make our lives fixed, settled, and intractable. Thus, we seal our own fate and ignore our hidden destinies…Shifting fate and finding the destiny within is part of the art of truly living and of living truly.
I heard it’s National Poetry Day today so I’ll share one of my very favorite poems:
I Ask for Silence, Pablo Neruda (trans. Alastair Reid)
Now they can leave me in peace.
Now they grow used to my absence.
I am going to close my eyes.
I want only five things,
five chosen roots.
One is an endless love.
Two is to see the autumn.
I cannot exist without leaves
flying and falling to the earth.
The third is the solemn winter,
the rain I loved, the caress
of fire in the rough cold.
Fourth, the summer,
plump as a watermelon.
And fifthly, your eyes,
Matilde, my dear love,
I won’t sleep without your eyes,
I won’t exist without your gaze,
I adjust the spring
for you to follow me with your eyes.
That, friends, is all I want.
Next to nothing, close to everything.
Now they can go if they wish.
I have lived so much that some day
they will have to forget me forcibly,
rubbing me off the blackboard.
My heart was inexhaustible.
But because I ask for silence,
don’t think I’m going to die.
The opposite is true;
it happens I am going to live.
To be, and to go on being.
I will not be, however, if inside me,
the crop does not keep sprouting,
the shoots first, breaking through the earth
to reach the light;
but the mothering earth is dark,
and, deep inside me, I am dark.
I am a well in the water of which
the night leaves behind stars
and goes on alone across fields.
It’s a question of having lived so much
that I want to live a bit more.
I never felt my voice so clear,
never have been so rich in kisses.
Now, as always, it is early.
The light is a swarm of bees.
Let me alone with the day.
I ask leave to be born.
What sower strode across the earth, Which hands sowed The heart’s seeds of fire? Like rainbow’s bands they went out from his fists To the frozen ground, young earth, hot sand And there shall they sleep Greedy, and drink up our life And break it into pieces For the sake of a sunflower you don’t…
They say life is more beautiful when you’re in love. (and it’s true) I’m finding it is positively breathtaking as I learn to fall in love with myself. (sweetness there) Suddenly, gifts are given freely and received with grace. (so much grace) The reds and yellow of life jump out from the grey, lurking shadows…
Teardrop by Massive Attack on Grooveshark “Be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” ~Plato In my travels, I have been blessed with the gift of confidence from people. Sometimes they share it over coffee and sometimes, I get emails from people telling me about their past and what they’ve been through….
Some friends shared their favorite words with me on Facebook so I decided to create a little short story with them. She looked at the beautiful faces around her and her heart was filled with warmth. This was indeed kismet and she felt more at home in her skin than she ever had. Loving, zaftig…
I have been turned to ashes. It is time. Today marks my eleventh year of motherhood. I gave birth to my daughter, Alexandra, eleven years ago. My life has been deeply transformed during that time. The tower has fallen. It’s time for rebirth and renewal. Happy birthday, Alexandra. Happy birthing day to me (and to…
No matter the election results tonight, tomorrow the sun will rise and children will go to school. We will feed our children and come together in community to support one another. Adult men and women will fall in love and have sex as will men and men, women and women, and a variety of other…
