pollyanna

cindy laurance
a california pollyanna!

pollyanna ~
written in 1913 by the
novelist eleanor h. porter

often one is given such a moniker because they
seem to have an unfailing optimistic outlook..
excessively cheerful..
however, the story goes that pollyanna and her father
played the glad game as a method of coping
with the difficulties and sorrows
(along with good fortune and joy)
that shape one's everyday life..

the first one who whistled
thought they had a wren in their mouth.
they went around all day
with their lips puckered,
afraid to swallow.
               ~ wendell berry
                  * edited dl

the pacific wren (troglodytes pacificus)
is the true authentic without a shred
of even a nano tinge of a doubt,
pollyanna in winged form!

montaigne's maxim:
the surest sign of wisdom is cheerfulness!

most certainly this wee wren is wise..
for they sing and cheep and share their unfettered joy
for no reason at all..or so it seems..
yet their exquiste wren chirrupings bring
to all who listen,
to all who hear this triumphant trilling
into a place of fearlessness..
into an ease and a grace of being..
of being in right relationship with all things..
is it not so?

the practice of lojong gives us this slogan ~
always be sustained by cheerfulness
whereby we, as practitioners,
must bring everything to the path -
to the path of our lives..
the rough and tumblies,
the harsh and heavy,
the sicknesses and sours -
(along with good fortune and joy)
usher them right into the very heart of the matter..
actually training our minds..our hearts..
to be more wrenly ~
to actualize the wren's wise song
in the midst of viruses,
in wild and weird politics,
in zoomzoom yoga techno dramas,
even our old age and impending death !

make a joyful noise unto the lord..
the lord of love..

and so i say unto you,
be giddy, be silly, be joyful..
laugh alot and laugh some more..
kiss the air with the breath of joy..
even behind the mask!
for no good reason..
who knows?
could well be a cure .....

mountainal
this first-light mountain, its east peak and west peak.

the first-light creeks:
langunitas, redwood, fern.  their fishes and mosses.

its night and day hawk life, slope-life, fogs, coyote, tan oaks,
white-speckled amanita. its spiderwebs' sequins.

to be personal is easy:
wake. slip arms and legs from sleep into name, into story.

i wanted to be mountainal, wateral, wrenal.
                  ~ jane hirshfield


have a listen ! to one, or two, or three

https://youtu.be/1v5AQ2yiA2o