we wave goodbye

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

the tree sways
in the wind,
just as the life
we live comes to
bear on all our sins

past mistakes,
felt deep within,
often shunned,
in favor of a wide-
eyed grin

hiding the story
weโ€™ve kept
bottled up,
and locked tight
away
from imaginings
of another day

we dig deep
into those fields
of amber,
and recollected
memories
of all our patterns

excavating them
one at a time,
we relish each moment,
even though,
we are present
to the pain conveyed

radiating from
the center,
shuttering, and
quaking from all
our errors

splitting time
in two,
past
meets present
in a dance of
healing, and
a whole lot of feeling

calmly,
we breathe
through the pain,
and realize
itโ€™s just another day

one at a time,
now,
we prepare
ourselves
for a lullaby,
and to our
dismay, we
wave
goodbye


Utmost Feelings โ€“ Just Released!

If youโ€™ve not yet checked out Asthaโ€™s Anthology, Utmost Feelings, well, you can now order it online. Hereโ€™s where you can find it:

Paperback-

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/9390817455

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/9390817455

Amazon DE: https://www.amazon.de/dp/9390817455

Amazon FR: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/9390817455

Amazon ES: https://www.amazon.es/dp/9390817455

Amazon IT: https://www.amazon.it/dp/9390817455

Amazon JP: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/9390817455

Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/9390817455

Ebook

Payhip- https://payhip.com/b/DjE8x

Kobo Books- https://www.kobo.com/in/en/ebook/utmost-feelings

B&N Press- https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/utmost-feelings-astha-srivastava/1139758293?ean=2940162372431

#poetry, #contemplation, #emotions, #gain, #healing, #introspection, #life, #loss, #love, #pain, #poem, #poems

of love and honor

Pixabay

houses made
of straw, and
fortresses,
created
on the shifting
sands of time,
without knowing
of another relevant
offering.

ensues,
instability,

during,

the most
prestigious
journey,
of a life lived, of
love known,
and loss
betrothed.

wedded,
hand-in-hand,
we search for reasons,
contemplate
the faltering, and
fight
the quell
on the inside.

battling back,
we retrace
our steps,
and begin to create
new foundations,
one brick at
a time;

laying them
one upon another,
in a fantastic
lattice,
of love
and honor.


Utmost Feelings โ€“ Just Released!

If youโ€™ve not yet checked out Asthaโ€™s Anthology, Utmost Feelings, well, you can now order it online. Hereโ€™s where you can find it:

Paperback-

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/9390817455

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/9390817455

Amazon DE: https://www.amazon.de/dp/9390817455

Amazon FR: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/9390817455

Amazon ES: https://www.amazon.es/dp/9390817455

Amazon IT: https://www.amazon.it/dp/9390817455

Amazon JP: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/9390817455

Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/9390817455

Ebook

Payhip- https://payhip.com/b/DjE8x

Kobo Books- https://www.kobo.com/in/en/ebook/utmost-feelings

B&N Press- https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/utmost-feelings-astha-srivastava/1139758293?ean=2940162372431

Additionally, the coauthors of Asthaโ€™s Anthology, Utmost Feelings, are creating a space for people to send their sentiments to Asthaโ€™s family.

If you are interested, please add your sentiments to this form, thank you, and stay blessed.

#contemplation, #creation, #emotions, #foundation, #humanity, #introspection, #life, #loss, #love, #poem, #poems, #resilience

breathe, then, breathe again

Photo by Mishal Ibrahim on Unsplash

how does it feel deep
inside when a line
breaks, again, and again,
through time?

breaking uncontrollable,
solace not found
only rebounded
from past to present
and never protected.

holding the pieces
of my being together,
with all the muster
that I can gather.

tears a flood,
body racked with remorse
of another time,
soul cracking
from the inside out,

without,

letting me know
the reason
for all of my doubts.

and just then?

breathe,
then,
breathe
again.

it happens,
just
as it is supposed to,
even when we try
really hard to
force the issue.

breathe,
then,
breathe
again.

itโ€™s not ours to hold
alone,
even though
thatโ€™s what
weโ€™ve been told.

mystery
meets conjecture
through the turbulent
weather and storms
of centuries
of nomenclature.

weโ€™re unbound
and limitless,
regardless of what
youโ€™ve been seeking,
and protecting
from the druthers
of all of lifeโ€™s pleasures.

breathe,
then,
breathe
again.

take solace in
yourself,
rejoice in the love
residing
in your heart,
which has been there
from the very start.

no need to guess,

simply
ask the question
to the One
who
has the access.


Utmost Feelings โ€“ Coming Soon!

If youโ€™ve not yet checked out Asthaโ€™s Anthology, Utmost Feelings, please check it out when you have a chance, and share as you are able. Thank you.

Additionally, the coauthors of Asthaโ€™s Anthology, Utmost Feelings, are creating a space for people to send their sentiments to Asthaโ€™s family.

If you are interested, please add your sentiments to this form, thank you, and stay blessed.

#poetry, #community, #connection, #contemplation, #emotions, #heart, #humanity, #introspection, #life, #love, #poem, #poems

Not Beyond Repair

Photo by Flash Dantz on Unsplash

Head under water,
necessitates
another way of being,
while the paradox of life
keeps on playing.

Hard to breathe,
lungs burning,
heart aching,
all the while,
the mind
keeps

straying.

Tears fall,
while hope
lingers
along my fingers.

A subtle touch,
and feeling returns
to the essence
of my being.

While drenched
in my solitude,
the connection
remains
among you.

Like the birth
of a flower,
time is now
flourishing
without heartache
or sorrow.

And,

as time skips a beat,
love finds me,
cradles me
with care,
and in that moment,
I know,
Iโ€™m not beyond repair.


Utmost Feelings โ€“ Coming Soon!

If youโ€™ve not yet checked out Asthaโ€™s Anthology, Utmost Feelings, please check it out when you have a chance, and share as you are able. Thank you.

Additionally, a few of the coauthors of Asthaโ€™s Anthology, Utmost Feelings, are creating a space for people to send their sentiments to Asthaโ€™s family.

If you are interested, please add your sentiments to this form, thank you, and stay blessed.

#poetry, #contemplation, #emotions, #healing, #hope, #introspection, #life, #love, #nature, #notbeyondrepair, #poem, #poems, #presence, #time

Forget

Photo by Manuel Meurisse on Unsplash

Sometimes
my emotions feel like a
spool of thread
wound tight, yet not too so,
more just right.

How, you ask, could I know?

Years spent
living in a body
with emotions bound
so tight,
I lived on the verge
of extinction
from the very bliss of
every little feeling distinction.

And now?

Just right,
is about the state
of things today. And,
Iโ€™m always curious
about what the next chapter

will lay

at my feet.

As I continue
to learn
more about my (our)
very existence
on a planet
so full of wonder
I often forget

what Iโ€™m dealing

with.

#poetry, #contemplation, #earth, #emotions, #forget, #introspection, #life, #nature, #poem, #poems

A Bloggerโ€™s Diary 5/9/21: On The Week, Writing and Reflecting, Emotions, and Acknowledgement

The Week

A lovely week this past week, as always. Iโ€™ve been continuing to prepare and plant my plot at the community garden. Iโ€™ll have another installment in the gardening series in the next week. Fun.

Iโ€™ve also been playing the guitar more. There is something about music. Iโ€™ve always known this, yet Iโ€™ve rediscovered, or, maybe itโ€™s, renewed a deep passion within me for, and with, music. I love it so much.

Iโ€™ve also been working, well, a lot. The team is as busy as ever. We just finished the summer schedule, which we will publish next week. I will share it with all of you in my next diary post.

And, of course, Iโ€™ve been writing. Less this week, yet, itโ€™s always there, and inspirational.

Writing and Reflecting

I completed the first entry in the Willamette Valley Wanderings and Wonderings series, and am contemplating my next hike. It will be next weekend, and I may drive up to Salem. Not sure. We will see. However it goes, Iโ€™ll have some lovely pictures and reflections to share with all of you.

I also published the purpose post this past week, which was fun. I think about purpose in such a different way today. Actually, I think about everything today quite differently. Purpose is just another concept that I like to think about; and, for me, purpose lives and breathes in each moment. Itโ€™s always there, and doesnโ€™t need much attention. Just being, living, and loving. Awesome.

Emotions

Photo by Kyre Song on Unsplash

As you all know, I write a lot about emotions. The reason I write about emotions so often, is that for most of my adult life I held all of my emotions in, and didnโ€™t process them.

Once I learned how to understand my feelings, I began to learn how to process them, talk about them, and, yep, write about them.

Therefore, in the past 4 years, Iโ€™ve lived through, and engaged with, a lot of emotional processing. These experiences serve as the foundation for many of my poems, and are quite beautiful.

I appreciate each of you for walking through these experiences with me, and supporting me as we do so. An honor.

Acknowledgement

Iโ€™ve also been reflecting more upon the concept acknowledgement this past week. Partly because as I was preparing the quarterly team report, it occured to me that I had so many acknowledgements to make, if I made them all in a single communication, it would be, well, rather lengthy.

Therefore, I chose to create a 4-day communication event, acknowledging a few team members each day. It feels right, and is important. Itโ€™s also important to acknowledge ourselves, and to do so often.

When we acknowledge how we feel, the lows, the highs, the middle spots, we get so much more back; and, we develop a real sense of what it means to be a human being on this wonderful planet.

As a final acknowledgement this week, Iโ€™d like to acknowledge my beautifully strong mother, sisters, exwife, and all of those moms out there who, for so many reasons, exemplify strength, persistence, determination, compassion, love, and kindness.

Thank you. Thank you for being exactly as you are.

Alright, everyone thatโ€™s all for this week.

Have a fantastical week.

#acknowledgement, #blogger, #bloggers-diary, #blogging, #diary, #emotional-intelligence, #emotions, #life, #love, #moms, #mothers-day, #reflecting, #writing

Music

Photo by Josh Appel on Unsplash

The music fills me with such
love and beauty, itโ€™s like free-falling
with all the best intentions, just now,
while the world shepherds a course
of direction, and I feel that deep connection.

I sit and let the music fill me, every nook and
cranny of my soul becomes engulfed in the
sound and feeling of all thatโ€™s there. Oh, such
devotion and care.

Care for ourselves is such an important
part of our journey. Sometimes we feel lost,
and unsure, even uncomfortable in our own skin,
even when we are with our kin. Itโ€™s not a demerit,
we all feel this way at times, so let your heart inherit.

The joy you feel within, as you take in the piano
paying a melody you swear was written for you, and
you grin.

The smile filling the room with joy and love,
itโ€™s enough to absolve the remainder of the lost
souls, in which you do connect, as you see yourself
in their midst, and have lived through the tests, just
as they are now presently, giving their best.

Best is what we each carry, give out, and try
not to tarry. No, give all that you have, my friend,
and, when itโ€™s time, let the music fill you and
begin the dance again.

#poetry, #beginagain, #contemplation, #emotions, #humanspirit, #introspection, #joy, #life, #love, #music, #nature, #poem, #poems, #resilience

Needed

Photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash

breathing
emotions rise
and fall, like the ocean,
waves coming and going,
and breaking as
needed

#poetry, #emotions, #hexastich, #humanness, #life, #love, #nature, #poem, #poems

Becoming (2)

On December 3, 2020, I wrote and posted the poem, Becoming, and then about a week ago I wrote another poem, yep, you guessed it, also called Becoming. Iโ€™m sure this has happened to you, and it has for me too; yet, this time, I wanted to post the second poem as it is, title and all.

In a way, I think it is perfectly appropriate for this past year. A time of struggle, death, and extreme hardship in so many different ways; and a time of hope, life, and extreme gratitude. I am holding these concepts with you, and the space inbetween, as I present this second poem on becoming.

As I sit and ponder, and also wonder,
and, yes, sometimes feel flustered with
the emotions coming, all the while I know
Iโ€™m becoming.

Something different each day, while sitting
in the midst of the presence of the thinking
and never ending feelings.

Itโ€™s hard as the tears come,
sometimes itโ€™s a trickle and not a flood. While
at other times, the flood would feel like a respite,
with the tsunami of tears pouring forth.

Sometimes itโ€™s a song, or a quick flash
of a not so distant past. It feels, moves, and
pushes the limits of the pain I think is possible
to bear, and then just when I think subside is in
stride, I break again.

Darkness envelops me, and I bend over
the pain pulling me towards the floor, where
at times I feel like Iโ€™ll learn more.

Just lay there and be, and let the emotions
wash over me. One wave and then the next,
they pass through, and time becomes something
extraordinary.

And, yet, my dear, just like you, they stop coming,
all the while thereโ€™s still more incoming. I pick myself up,
wash my face, and look at the person staring back
through the picture of my mirrored life forthcoming.

He wears a smile with swollen eyes, face damp
with the salted tears of years of trying. Yet, deep down
he knows, while trying is a piece of the whole, itโ€™s in
the doing where the scattered fragments
become one, as we march towards
our continual becoming.

#poetry, #becoming, #death, #emotions, #hope, #life, #loss, #love, #pain, #poem, #poems

Heed

Photo by Forrest Moreland on Unsplash

At times I am filled with such deep
Emotion, itโ€™s like my body has stopped
Working and the commotion running through
Me isnโ€™t being sifted, instead Iโ€™m being through the
Heavens lifted.

An entirely different plane fills me, and I wonder
What it all means. Just for a second though,
as the tide turns, and the emotion thatโ€™s run through me
Is turning the corner, looking for more stormy weather
Out at sea.

The clouds open up, the lightning flashes, and
The thunder rumbles, and the depths pull at me
With such vigor, I become perplexed, and do not
Dither.

Instead I move with the dance, allowing it to cast
Me as is willed. Knowing that the playโ€™s still playing,
And the last actโ€™s not retiring, nay, still moving onto
Another scene, and I start praying.

Softly, silently, asking for guidance, knowing that
Itโ€™s always been there, and will forevermore be clear.
Even on stormy days, when the weather continues
On itโ€™s own way, and we continue to play, and, to not
Be led astray.

Be all that you may, my dear, and let life fill you
As needed. Itโ€™s all we can do at times, just be, and let
Your soul heed it.

#poetry, #contemplation, #emotions, #heed, #introspection, #life, #love, #nature, #poems, #reflection, #stormyweather