My writing often starts with sensory attention to the immediate world. I sometimes look around my house and see things in and out of place, reminders of projects in process, of a duty that needs doing, of an item needing care, repair, or one best discarded. And it is easy to fall prey to the demand of things and wait on the world. But it doesn't have to be that way! What if you dropped the struggle to shape your life and let the world wait for you?
Read MoreWe often lose ourselves in order to live in the world, shooing away the wild and unacceptable in us and leaving it to fend for itself in a psychic terra-ephemera. But that which we turn away often returns. Our response determines whether it will come as friend or foe, whether it will be our curse or our blessing. How will you answer when the feral child, now fully grown, comes knocking?
Read MoreIn my late teens and early twenties, I often had a strong feeling that something important had happened or was about to happen, something of which I should certainly be aware, but it remained unknown. It was a demanding feeling that sometimes put me on edge. I escaped it by concluding that I must have dreamed something that remained unconscious. The feeling still comes on occasion to this day. I have learned to welcome these deep secrets as a sign of something ripening in the nether regions of my soul.
Read MoreSeveral years ago, I had a dramatic epiphany convincing me that I must write both to save my soul and to express my gift. I have written everyday since then, with rare exception, and know that I will continue to do so as long as I am able and whether or not what I produce is accepted and supported by the world. What is something that you must do to save your soul or for the sake of your sanity?
Read MoreI am a people-watcher, an activity I enjoy while waiting in airports, or hotel lobbies, or while on walks both in my homeland and abroad. I often imagine what it might be like to be in another person's skin, to have a certain body shape or walk in a certain way. In Every Step is a poem about the process of "Going Other," which is one of the best techniques I learned from NLP.
Read MoreWhat if identity were nothing more than a shell for a hermit crab? When they outgrow the confines of an old shell, they need to find a new, larger one to accommodate expansion. What new or expanded identity is calling you to leave your old shell behind and find a new one?
Read MoreAccording to The Heartmath Institute, the heart puts out signals both to one's own brain and body, but also out to the world through electrical and electromagnetic waves. I often ponder what message my heart may be sending out to the world, whether it is a message of welcome or unwelcome, whether I am saying "yes" or "no" to life. My poem, For This Embrace, asks: How willing or ready are you to offer or receive embrace?
Read MoreAre you ready to spread your wings to the wind? Most of us have more freedom than we realize, our constraints coming more from our own limits than those imposed on us by the world. Edge of Freedom is my poem about dancing on this edge. The Roman philosopher, Seneca, said: Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Freedom is what happens when you ride the wave at the intersection of wing and wind.
Read MoreLove is such an overwhelming and powerful force that it is taken as the ultimate solution for all challenges. And it may be. But the phrase that "love is the answer" is so overused that it has become threadbare. It provides nothing but distraction. I composed this poem About Love when challenged to write about love in an online writing class. What if love was not the answer, but the question to which your life is the answer?
Read MoreOne of the great gifts of the very young, a gift often reclaimed as we age, is the ability to look beyond "looks," to appreciate the spirit of a person and to recognize that the essential life force in each of us has the capacity to blossom no matter what season we might be in or what suffering we may have endured. I have come to love this essential life force, the human flame found in each of us, more than anything. What, or whom, do you love more than anything?
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