To Travel Well

If you want to travel well

you must be prepared to lose things

to lose the certitude of best ways to do things

or right ways or that anyone can know such treachery

to lose the sense of one place as the center 

holding answers for all the world

or that one language can best capture thought

so all others should wrap their tongues around right words

to lose the belief that one religion outranks others

that other beliefs are strange, misguided, unenlightened

or that one culture reigns supreme, the final answer

with keys to unlock all mysteries

if you want to travel well 

you must be prepared to gain things

to gain certitude of best as cumulative

that right energy can be forged collaboratively

to gain ardor that our world is vast and central

and needs protection so answers can be discovered in alliance

that each language builds in a unique world view

not to be neglected even if we choose a common language

to gain the belief that religion's role is to point toward the holy

and that we're all holy within a holy world superceding dogma

that each culture takes its place in the scheme of things as one piece

of the whole which together can shed light on all mysteries

to travel well one must be prepared to be ambushed

by the beauty that awaits day after day

to grow tender toward the children of each place

as they play and meet strangers and live in sometimes unimaginable 

circumstances and call it home yet stay open to travelers

ready to lose separateness and gain oneness and be our teachers in this 

it takes a fearlessness, this traveling, an open heartedness

that stands ready to call sister, to call brother, to say yes.


In response to Poetics: Travel Poetry prompt by Gabriella at dVerse Poets Pub although I missed the deadline and for Grapeling's Get Listed- September with words from "The Art of War" over at Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads. I used capture, neglected, ardor, energy, alliance, treachery and scheme.

Though I am Old With Wandering...

I've traveled in my life,

found fresh vistas for hungry eyes,

moved forward toward the novel and

exchanged the customary close to my heart

to defy convention and shake loose moorings

that constrain even while they comfort. 

Something entirely new can then burst forth,

a friendship forged across boundaries of age and culture.

This place of connection against all odds

is the magic I've found and the highest degree of accuracy. 

We are one, this bench mark mapped,

the landmark of depth, formlines of home

set in our true coordinates.

This is written in response to two prompts at Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads: the first from Helen to write of the travels in our life and the magic of what we've found and use map terms (used- degree of accuracy, bench mark, depth, landmark, coordinates, formlines) and the second prompt from Grapeling to use words from the July word list (used- fresh, burst, defy, forward, customary). Mario, in the photo with me, is 84 and from Montalcino, Italy.

Working on That

The circle of life holds
all within its hoop,
the story danced in ritual telling,
hoop formations surround the body,
butterfly, eagle, coyote, snake,
all our relations danced with hoops
as wings and tails, moving, swinging,
dancing us as one.

Marian, over at Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads, introduced us to a wonderful singing group, Donna the Buffalo, who sang "Working on That" about working on peace. In the background were Native American Hoop Dancers and this poem focuses on them. Google 'hoop dancers' to see more of these amazing dancers and their dance stories. The photo is from wikipedia.

Dona Nobis Pacem

In the cave of every soul
we pray for peace,
our words sisters to silence.
Grant us peace,
all of us.
We are
one.

Kerry over at Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads has linked to the annual Nov. 4th Blogblast 4 peace. What a good thing to focus our energies on furthering world peace. One voice at a time.

Tundra

The very name chosen for me speaks
to my strength, tundra. Sounds
strong, like lichen, Don't
tell of my fragility,
they'll banish me you know.
Each step on my surface means

habitat lost, mosses crushed. When so
little lives, each is essential, precious. Not
in some darling sense but bedrock
real, life based now on what others
do unto me, outside
my control, while winds howl.


This is based on a prompt form Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads on Transforming Fridays Take Two- Tundra with the challenge to speak in the voice of the flora or fauna of the tundra, or as the tundra herself. (Photo from Hannes Grobe at Wikimedia Commons.)

We Are One

WE ARE COMPLETELY INTERRELATED

If we begin to surrender to ourselves —begin to drop the story line and experience what all this messy stuff behind the story line feels like— we begin to find bodhichitta, the tenderness that’s underneath all the harshness. By being kind to ourselves, we become kind to others. By being kind to others— if it’s done properly, with proper understanding we benefit as well.

So the first point is that we are completely interrelated. What you do to others, you do to yourself. What you do to yourself, you do to others.
(Pema Chodron)

I'm thinking on and loving this thought lately and striving to practice it in my everyday life. And reveling in our summer abundance.