guidance comes on the shoulders
of mountain tops
a reliance
on the love living inside my fingertips
short, and stout
they speak to me of dreams, unseen
a reality
forged from iron leaves
while the fragrance of love always makes me believe
in you, my love
Can you see me through the pain inside the loving breeze?
I can see you too.
it’s here, my love
where I will always wait for you
Photo by ArtTower, Pixabay
April was an exciting month filled with much activity, both in my personal and professional life. It’s so much fun to watch life unfold, participate in it, and be fully engaged in every aspect of life. A true blessing.
This month I spent time at the Community Garden, getting the soil ready for planting, which will begin in late May and early June. As you will read later in this review, I also spent a lot of time in April on my debut poetry book, and on book reviews. It’s so much fun.Â
As some of you know, I had planned a trip to London in May of this year, alas, I have rescheduled this trip to later in the year. I am excited about the new timing of this trip, as I will end up in London during the holidays, which feels lovely to me.
I am contemplating a trip to Los Angeles to see my mother and sisters this summer, which is always fun for me. It’s always great to see them and my nieces and nephews.
The team is busier than ever. The traction we have across all of the programs within Extended Learning is at an all-time high, and the services we are delivering are reaching a wider audience with each year that passes.
The Commercial Driver License Program completed its first cohort, with tremendous success; and the second cohort will begin training in two weeks.
A very busy month at home and at work, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
My debut poetry book now has a title, and Ingrid Wilson, of Experiments in Fiction, is currently working on the cover design.
When the cover design is complete, I will update all of you on the cover design and the title.
Most of my writing time in April was dedicated to the book. I am excited to share that I have a rough manuscript, which I will begin to edit this month.
Once the editing is complete, I will send it to Ingrid, which will be in late May, or early June.
I am also continuing to send two poems each month to MasticadoresIndia, and MasticadoresUSA. I love being a part of both of these wonderful online publications. Gabriela Maria Milton and Terveen Gill are amazing editors and wonderful friends. Working with them is a blessing.
If you’ve never submitted to these two online publications, I encourage you to do so. You can find out about submission details on the respective websites.
April also found one of my poems, Realization Dawns, nominated for publication of the month at Spillwords Press. Though the poem was not voted as the publication of the month, the mere fact that it was nominated, is a great joy and honor for me.
I would like to thank each of you for continuing to support my writing and for being wonderful friends. Whether you are a new reader of my blog or someone that has been here for years, I appreciate each of you for taking the time you do to engage with me. You are all inspiring, and wonderfully talented.
Resounding Lights, by Tanushree Taruchaya
Resounding Lights, by Tanushree Taruchaya takes the reader through reflections, contemplations, and introspections on deep pain and brilliant beauty.
Making connections to a life lived, and to nature, Tanushree draws the reader into poetry weaved from the soul.
The poetry contained in Resounding Lights will speak to every human being on this planet, for we’ve all known pain, and we’ve all known beauty, and both of these attributes are created gorgeously in this book.
I highly recommend Resounding Lights, as it is a bright light in a world that can sometimes feel very dark.Â
If you are not following me on Twitter, you can follow me here.
That’s all for this month, my dear friends. Sending you all my love for a beautifully blessed May.Â
the sky’s canopy lives in my mind,
restless at any given moment,
yet with the blue
contained
inside
of
this torment, transformation occurs, giving
way to stars that line my veins,
and suns that linger
inside
my
eyes for days
it is
the nature
of life’s canopy
on display
within the heart of you and I, if
we learn to love the pain,
and give it
away
while refreshing ourselves in the sun and stars
of another day…
Photo by Prettysleepy, Pixabay
This past month I’ve begun preparing for the community garden, which will officially start in March. As you all know, I participated in a community garden last year, and it was a wonderful experience.
I’ve started to think about the veggies and flowers I want to grow, and have also started to collect cardboard, which will be used to cover the plot until it is seeded. The harvest last season was abundant, and I look forward to more fresh vegetables from the garden this year.
The boys are doing well, Jason is with his mom full-time, and will turn 18 this year; and, Justin is preparing for his internship, and last year at University. Amazing. These two boys, nay, men now, are the light of my life, and seeing them succeed in their individual endeavors fills my heart.
At work, we are preparing for the spring term schedule. We will have about 150 classes on offer, most of them will continue to be remote. We are also filling our Leadership Academies, and will begin to fill our Small Business Management classes in March.Â
Both of these training programs are excellent opportunities for local leaders and small business owners to be in critical conversations creating transformation within their lives and their businesses. So much fun.
As you know, I had a poem accepted at Spillwords Press this month. What you may not know, is that the poem, with all their scars, was trending as one of the top 3 poems the week it was published. This happened because of your unwavering support.Â
Many of you took the time to visit Spillwords and read and like the post. For that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You all mean the world to me, and your support is a blessing.
I also had four poems published this month in MasticadoresIndia and MasticadoresUSA, 2 poems in each respectively.
In case you missed them, here they are:
Another heartfelt thank you to all of you for visiting both the Masticadores sites and reading, liking, and commenting on my poems. It means a great deal to me.
I also have a few new things planned for the blog this year.Â
I will also submit poetry to new magazines and journals this year. I’ve actually already submitted to two, one of which is the Bangalore Review. I’m excited about these new publishing opportunities.
I’ve been doing the WDYS prompt for over a year-and-a-half now. It’s the only prompt I do on a regular basis, and is always fun. The WDYS prompt is created by Sadje, at Keep it Alive.Â
If you’ve never done the prompt, I invite you to visit Keep it Alive and take a look sometime. You might find it fun, as I do.Â
Alright, here is my response to the WDYS #118 prompt.
our heart’s love…
glasses set for two, the beauty in you,
I see too
a rose
tinted fragrance
wafts upon the shore
it is discord, and accord
both, a common
motion
of
this hearts healing contortions, as
pain racks the heart
and mind
two
becoming one
combined
in a
tale of
romance and
tragedy
we think and feel close…
loving,
while
wandering
a
tightrope
designed for those destined to love
the most, sending their
hearts out, into
the fields
they
go
spreading our heart’s love,
in repose…
As I get insights on any developmental topic, I always find avenues to share them with family, the team, and with all of you. They are shared via my poems, the A Blogger’s Diary series, and will also be shared here in this new series.
These developmental insights come as a product of my own internal development, and spending a large portion of the past 30 years in leadership and education.
This month, I’ve been reflecting upon overwhelm. Partly because I’ve been present to my own overwhelm, which comes and goes, and because I’ve been present to the team’s overwhelm, which also comes and goes.
Overwhelm as a concept and practice is simply a state of being overstimulated by our environments. These moments of overwhelm, sometimes last longer than we’d like. They are moments where our bodies are physiologically, psychologically, and sociologically, under more stress and this stress manifests in various ways for people.
For me, the most important thing to remember about overwhelm is that it comes and goes. It is a state of being, like most, which is transitory, yet, often, as human beings, we desire to hold onto these states, and do so unconsciously.Â
Yet, as we become more aware of our own overwhelm, we can make new choices. We can stop what we are doing, take a break, go for a walk, sit somewhere quiet and just breathe in and out.Â
It is very important to stop when overwhelmed. Stop what we are doing, and do something else. Sounds simple, and is quite simple. When we create the space to breathe, to do something different than we’ve been doing, we create a different response to our environment, and will get back a different reaction.
The next time you are overwhelmed, I invite you to stop what you are doing, and do something different, and see what you get back. You might be surprised.
Alright, that’s all for the January month in review.
I appreciate each and every one of you, send you my love, and wish you a blessed coming week.
