Poetry and Prose by #1 Amazon Bestselling Author of Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow, Co-Author of #1 Amazon Bestseller, Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women, and Jan/Feb 2022 Spillwords Press Author of the Month
I wake up to you you remind me of the brilliance of afternoon sunsets and
of morning dew cascading
over a horizon filled with pain, and with healing
a presence of colors, ambiguous yet just enough to
fill the space left
by the absence of your touch
Photo by me, Oregon Coast
New Publications
I am pleased to announce that my poem, Misty Morning, is now available atMasticadoresIndia. Thank you to Terveen Gill, and the team at MasticadoresIndia for their continued support, and for publishing this piece. You can read the full poem here.
AND
I am also pleased to announce that my poem, Autumn Morning is now available at Spillwords Press. A big thank you to Dagmara K., and the whole team at Spillwords for publishing this piece, and for their continued support. You can read the full poem here.
I would be honored if you would read both poems, thank you!
Photo Gallery
My time at the coast is always precious to me. Early morning walks along the beach provide a space for deep reflection and contemplation. This year, I stayed at a small little motel right on the oceanfront. Amazing views from my room, and easy access to the beach, where walking for miles is possible. Beautiful, invigorating, and peaceful.
I am not jealous of the rocks that dwell deep in the ocean bed they have nothing to covet; nothing to look forward to (scoff) but for sore backs from laying stiff under kelp beds in seagrassโ as threshing sea-doormats โ and perhaps of sand in their eyes but I suppose Iโm predisposed to how heavy its shoulders must be when my avant-garde gauge is the emptiness I suffer after yet one more mate left my bed I met a starfish at the shore the other day when my shoulders were laden with pity and boy, was I surprised with the story she shared! she named a rock in the intertidal zone that dreamed about being a rock in Mt. Everest where heโd lay under a female Juniper tree in the forested zone, no less, to wait for Juniper to drop him her berry-cones
โDonโt ask,โ the pink starfish exclaimed, rolling her eyes before she continued, โbut he is lots of fun and such a loving rock; everyone respects himโ we hope to keep him grounded and curious. We cannot make him change, but we can make him grow aware of his unrealistic expectations,โ she said, and then she left with the tide shouting I-donโt-know-what at me and that sheโd write her rock a love poem How curious, thought I of the soliloquy that even rocks have dreams to profess curious-er still about the rockโs recklessness to plant ideas into the heads of sea stars Is that what lifeโs like at the bottom of the sea?
Today I met a rearing Adรฉlie penguin pair hit with a dire dearth of rocks to stealโ they have their eyes on the stones at the bottom of the oceanic crust but by golly, those are unwieldy and immerse too deep to even try โWeโre the pebble poachers in these lands,โ the female told me, โwith brave dreams of getting our hands on those stones.โ โStones that just lay on sea bedsโ doing nothing,โ offered the male. Then, just as they came, they ran off to write each other love poems. I nodded, supposing I understood their plight. Is it thievery when this couple could put those rocks to good useโ and grant the rocks a purpose to be? All for the sake of their offspring?
As I trudged home, my shoulders felt lighter I didnโt know I didnโt knowโ but now I know! Thinking hard about being jinxed by getting the feted short end of the stick in life which amounts to not having someone to cohabit my bed with at night Is my qualm due to quixotic expectations? Do I need more lessons from the sea? Perchance now Iโm more ready to give it one more try Iโll start today by writing to myself a love poem.
Gift From The Sea was inspired by the poem Oceanโs Rocks. You can read more of Selmaโs poetry atSelma.
I am sharing one more collaborative response poem tomorrow morning, and then will post one of my poetic responses each day the rest of next week, which will make 30 days in a row of poetry for the Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow: 30 Poems in 30 Days Collaboration.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of the amazing poets that participated in this collaboration, and to all of you for being here, reading, liking, and commenting on the posts. Itโs been so much fun!
Stay tuned to this blog for a Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow: 30 Poems in 30 Days Collaboration wrap-up post, and for details about my next initiative, by monthโs end.Thank you.
Welcome to the third of four poetry readings this August from Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow.
While creating these readings gave me quite a bit of anxiety at first, they have been a blast, and are something I would like to do a little more regularly in the future.ย
Alright, without further ado, here is the poetry reading of Slow-Motion Moments.
We are 10 days away from the release of Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow, and with each day that passes, my excitement grows. Thank you all for being here each day, and for celebrating this accomplishment with me. I am blessed to know each of you.
I am so pleased to announce that my poem, cosmic radiance, is now available atMasticadoresIndia. Thank you to Terveen Gill, and the team at MasticadoresIndia for their continued support, and for publishing this piece.
cosmic radiance
I walk along the forest floor, watching as the mysteries pour forth
blooming evergreen weeds, struggling up through the ground
looking to see if anyoneโs around
they always wink at me relating a resilience
and a broad-spectrum playfulnessโฆ
I would be honored if you would go here, and read the rest of my poem. Thank you!
I am excited to share my poem, I gently wish upon a star, which is now available at MasticadoresIndia. Though this is my last poem of the year with MasticadoresIndia, I am very excited about being a regular monthly contributor next year. Thank you again to Terveen Gill, and the entire team at MasticadoresIndia for publishing this piece, and for their continued support.
I gently wish upon a star
heartaches, reminding me of earthquakes, experienced in between the lines, moving past mistakes
of a life, this life, lived in moments unsure, and in others, grown taller than the applewood trees flowersโฆ
I would be honored if you would go here and read the rest of my poem. Thank you!
A couple of weeks ago I gave a talk about connection. More specifically, it was titled, the Year of Continued Connection. The talk was delivered at our Community Education Instructor Forum. An event weโve been planning and delivering for, well, almost three years now.
After the talk, I continued to reflect upon the conversation with the instructors, and the concepts they brought up, and just how important connection is in our lives. In many ways, it is the bedrock of many concepts we cherish, such as relationships, engagement, an open heart, kindness, care, and yes, compassion.
When we are deeply connected to our own humanity, we get a larger picture of our shared humanity, which increases the humility and compassion we have for ourselves, and everyone else.
In this post, I would like to elaborate on a few of the concepts outlined above as I understand them in their relation to connection. Ready? Good. Here we go.
Relationships โ as Iโve written about many times, all of our relationships start with the relationship we have with ourselves. The connection we have with ourselves is the same connection we will have with the people in our lives. It just works that way. There was a time when I wondered why it was that my relationships werenโt as strong as I would have liked them to be; bottom line? The relationship I had with myself was not strong. Simple.
Engagement โ when we are in relationship with ourselves, and then the people we surround ourselves with, it means that we are engaged. Engagement in this context means we have easy and difficult conversations. Both. When we hold ourselves accountable, we will do the same for everyone else, which makes navigating our relationships harder. Though harder, when we hold ourselves accountable, we get back relationships that have a deeper connection. Why? Because we are real, we are speaking our truth. Thatโs it.
Open Heartedness โ when we are in engaged relationships there will be difficult times. For us, and for the people we love. However, when we are engaged, we wonโt run, we will stand by their side, and stand for those we love, just as we stand for ourselves. And, when we are standing, we are being open to all that life gives us. We donโt pick and choose the times we are engaged and willing to stand for ourselves and the people we love. We do it all the time. Without thinking. It just happens. We create more openness within ourselves because we are living through experiences that we may have run from before; and, when we stand through all of the stormy times, our connection to ourselves and the people we love deepens even further.
Kindness โ with our hearts more open in these engaged relationships, we develop more kindness for ourselves and everyone else. It happens as a result of continuing to navigate all of lifeโs triumphs and challenges. In essence, we become a kinder human being, because weโve been through more challenges. Weโve become more vulnerable; and, when we become more vulnerable, yes, we get stronger, and we get kinder. All of which also creates a more intense connection with ourselves and the people we love.
Care โ when we are kind, engaged, and open-hearted in our relationships, we develop more care. We have a better understanding of the human condition, and what it takes to stand for ourselves and the people we love. Every day. And, as we do this work, a deeper awareness develops within ourselves, which includes a deeper connection of care to everyone and everything.
I also like to think about connection in regard to three other concepts. Here they are.
Safety โ when we stand for ourselves and other human beings, we stay engaged, regardless of the situation. A result of increased engagement is safety. When we know we wonโt run at the first sight of trouble, people feel safe. And, when people feel safe with you, they will be much more connected.
Security โ as a sense of safety develops in your relationships, a sense of security also develops. It has to. When we feel safe, we also feel secure. Secure in the knowledge that our relationships are a place where we donโt have to worry or create anxiety over people leaving us, or being upset with us. Now, that doesnโt mean there will never be disagreements, or even arguments; what it does mean is that people will respect each other, and speak their truth, without fear of reprisal. Thatโs security.
Stability โ and, when we feel safe and secure, we also feel stable. The relationship we have with ourselves is more stable, which means all of our relationships are more stable.
When we have safety, security, and stability in our relationships, we have a deeper connection to those we love. It also means that we know when a relationship is not going to work. Whereas this is difficult, we stay true to our truth. The knowing we have of the kind of relationship we are creating, and want to have. Therefore, we are much more clear on the people we allow into our lives. In fact, we have much more clarity about humanity in general. Beautiful.
With more clarity about our own humanity, we are much more clear on all humanity. Iโve written this sentence differently many times. Yet, it is such an important part of deepening our connection with ourselves and the people we love.
When we have authentic relationships, we are working hard on them all the time. And, as we do the hard work, we go through many challenges. These challenging times show us more about our own humanity, and then our collective humanity.
For instance, we can read every book ever written on being vulnerable, yet the only way to really know about vulnerability is to practice being vulnerable. It is the only way. Without the practical experience of being vulnerable, vulnerability is just information in our heads; we leave our hearts behind.
Yet, when we are open to all of the experiences life gives us, we get to learn so much more. And, it is inside of these learnings where we further deepen our connection with ourselves and everyone else.
As we deepen our connections, we also develop more compassion. We develop more compassion, because as we go through more challenges, we develop a new understanding of how hard life can be; and with this new experiential knowledge, the compassion we have for ourselves and everyone else deepens.
When we are more compassionate, we are also more patient, and have more love for people when they are struggling, because we can see ourselves in them. And, for me, one of the most magical experiences of my practice of self-inquiry over the past four years has been seeing myself in other people. It is a beautiful experience.
Remember, every connection we have in life starts with the one we have with ourselves. When we have a deep connection with ourselves, we will have a deeper connection with the people we love, and we will also become a more compassionate human being. And, guess what?
Develop. Inspire. Transform. 