Although there can be great beauty in a carefully crafted life, this poem asserts that "carefully crafted" can also become a veneer that keeps us from our deeper yearnings. What is your irrepressible yearning? What do your feet know that your head does not about walking the path you are meant to walk?
Read MoreThis poem is a slight modification of my morning daily intent, written on Sunday, May 15, 2016. The reference to Lewis Carrol's classic, Alice In Wonderland, appeared to me because I was scheduled to attend a modernized stage play version later that day at B Street Theater in Sacramento. The poem raises the question: What if your life were your swan song and every act was your final performance?
Read MoreWe each have a wild nature, a part we learn to lock up in order to get by in the world, and to keep our heart anchored and at bay. We also have our struggles in life, those times when temptation comes calling out our wild side and we must choose between the life we have carefully crafted and one that skirts the dark side...
Read MoreAre you being called to a deeper life? The Poets came to me almost in one piece after hearing a poetry reading at Barnes and Noble on a full moon night in 2003. The poem highlights a sense of having two selves: one lives a surface life of habits and hobbies, of interests and interactions on a daily basis. This is the little “s” self. The other one, the capital “S” Self, lives a deeper, richer life of which I am only faintly aware.
Read MoreSo much in our lives goes unnoticed and many precious moments that pass by in the rush of life may be held somewhere inside in forgotten arms. This poem served as my intent to speak to the heart to a group of poets at the Monday Sacramento Poetry Center where I added my name to the list for the open mic....
Read MoreI wrote a draft of this poem before finding the Mandela quote about dignity at the beginning of the post. He devoted his life to freedom, to ending apartheid, and to elevating the lives of Africans. Freedom is a question of how we relate to the greater forces of life, forces over which we have little control, and forces under which we often suffer. I think Mandela's quote hints at the true nature of freedom.
Read MoreBold claims often inspire us to elevate our selves but may also force us to face our fears. Those that do both truly put us on the frontier of our lives, on the growing edge where we can go beyond our former limits and find the grounds for an expanded life. What bold claim might you make that would put you on the frontier of your life?
Read MoreBecoming adult often means quelling our passion so that we can live in the world and get along with others. The unfortunate trade-off is that many of us suppress all of our passion, not just the anti-social impulses or unruly behavior that arise out of passion. Maturity reclaims passion and channels it into productive activity, creative work, and spiritual development, but this sometimes means leaving the social cruise because only a lifeboat can take you to your dreams...
Read MoreTalis Wong welcomed me as a second guest of honor at the table reserved for Judith Delozier and the students who were attending her class in Hong Kong. Strangely, I had written this poem a few days before hand. Judy and I had talked about meeting in Hong Kong, but made no specific plan until I arrived. So, the poem was prescient. I had written the poem to express a feeling of welcome from life and did not have the meet-up with Judy in mind.
Read MoreA simple search of the internet will yield a thousand formulas for success, each with its own claim on truth and promises to heal our wounds, to kill our stress, to lift us out of impoverished lives, and to land us in happily ever after. I am not immune to the power of these promises and have spent thousands on gaining access to the secret. My life is an unsolved mystery; but I have a strange sensation that I am also the only detective who can "solve it." This is my poetic ode to the mystery!
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