Greetings All,
First, a poem offering in gratitude:
Being a Person
Be a person here. Stand by the river; invoke
the owls. Invoke winter; then spring.
Let any season that wants to come here to make its own
call. After that sound goes away, wait.
A slow bubble rises through the earth
and begins to include sky, stars, all space,
even the outracing, expanding thought.
Come back and hear the little sound again.
Suddenly this dream you are having matches
everyone’s dream, and the result is the world.
If a different call came there wouldn’t be any
world, or you, or the river; or the owls calling.
How you stand here is important. How you
listen for the next things to happen. How you breathe.
~ William Stafford
And now, it is my great honor to announce our new Poet Laureate.
Mr. Jeff Aitken is the author of poem #4 and the new Poet Laureate of our
OSLIST community. Jeff will hold this title for the next six months or so,
holding space for poetry on the list by inviting, noticing, inspiring,
offering poetry…as he is inspired. And at the end of that six months or so
he will host another restricted form poetry contest …and so the tradition
continues.
We pass the leafy crown to you, Mr. Aitken, with the deepest of bows. Here
again are the amazing poems inspired by the inner Open Space with their
authors revealed. Thank you to all the muses…
#1
ODE TO MY BREATH
HOURS SLIP BY
DAYS RUN OFF
YEARS PILE UP
GOOD TIMES
SAD TIMES
MEMORABLE MOMENTS
GLIMPSES OF BLISS
ALL COME AND GO
IN THEIR OWN RHYTHM
WHAT WILL BE NEXT?
YES, I KNOW WHAT'S NEXT
WITH UNFAILING SURETY
IT IS MY BREATH
HERE IT COMES
IN,HOLD, THEN OUT
LET GO
MAKE IT DEEP
EMBRACE OT FULLY
THEN LET IT FLY
SOON THE CYCLE BEGINS AGAIN
NEVER CEASING, ON AND ON
UNTILL THE END OF MY TIME IN THIS SWIRLING UNIVERSE
~ Trudie Richman
#2
the duck floats by
nonchalantly
oblivious to breaking the ripples in the water quack!
~ Raffi Aftandelian
#3
NO POEM
NO POEM TODAY
NOT MUCH TO SAY
THOUGHTS COME AND GO
IMAGES DRIFT FAST AND SLOW
SADNESS CREEPS IN
WORRIES LOOP AND SPIN
TRY TO GET BACK TO HERE AND NOW
LET THIS MOMENT SHOW ME HOW
WASH AWAY FEARS AND PAIN
CONFIDENCE COME UP AGAIN
NOW I SEE A BUTTERFLY
SPREADING WINGS, CIRCLING HIGH
COURAGE SPREADS THROUGH ME LIKE LIGHT
COME STAY WITH ME ALL DAY AND NIGHT
~ Trudie Richman
#4
When my father died I grieved all year.
But Michael Stipe was right that sweetness follows.
When it's over,
A cloud of feeling lingers, calls up memories, shows me the world with eyes
more raw, more open to this stark, leafless maple growing in the sidewalk.
And shows me to the work that's next to do.
When it's over,
We might start that lovely, awkward dance of hugs, and wait our turn to hug
Ralph, and Chris, Karen, Joelle, and Lisa, everyone who won and wrote and
read, and lay a wreath for Laurel on the earth.
When it's over,
we might stand in Harrison's circle with hands joined and faces outward,
hearts burst open to the horizon and the mystery of walking toward it, alone
and together, finding spaces snapping open like poppies.
~ Jeff Aitken
#5
Can we live in a larger world
Than ever we have before?
The world that we can think about
Is puny by comparison
To what can happen if we let it
Thinking opens doors to only ordinary things
Bumping's the trick of the nothing in between
Where living lives & giving gives
& Everything in nothing is
What grows a larger living world
~ Doug Germann
#6
Open space is not empty
Instead fertile fecund bumpy
Inviting
We go to it not empty but overflowing
Seeking to give without control
Willing to receive without expecting
Expecting limits us & we are without limits
To live in open space is to
Invite
—help
—engagement
—meeting
Be invited
—to help
—to leave
Be inviting
Help before you're invited
Let invitations come and go
& not count the difference
Live it before you know it
Live it to know it
Open space gently takes your hand
Splash some on your face and body
Listen—give voice—listen—live
~ Doug Germann
#7
I am a dreamer
My dreams start a journey
A road sparked by Spirit
Spirit is the fuel that propels me
Without it there is no forward motion
No hope of betterment
Space is the place dreams are born
It is not sleep that produces them
It is the open and clear field of possibility
When I am in Open Space
Spirit is always present
Here the dream begins and so does my travel I travel in good company
Keep your Spirit
I am dreaming with you
~ Elwin Guild
#8
breathing
connecting opening
breathing
breathing
witnessing
inviting
breathing
breathing
letting go
co-creating
breathing breathing
naming emerging
breathing
~ Lisa Heft
Appreciatively,
Karen
Karen Sella
Coaching: HYPERLINK "http://www.luminacoaching.com"www.luminacoaching.com
Consulting: HYPERLINK
"http://www.integralventures.com"www.integralventures.com
Blog: HYPERLINK "http://www.lumina.typepad.com"www.lumina.typepad.com
Phone: 1.206.780.2998
Skype: karensella
lumina fr. L. light, air, opening...
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