sing a song of sixpence..end of poetry month

a living history is sung by telling its melody.
~antonio machado

salutations to poets, poems and poetry!
we know all about the authentic life,
a life well-lived, the quality of a day,
a day in the life, it’s a wonderful life..

all these inspire us to live,
dare i say..a poetic life..
to seek out the things that are similar..
while we recognize the differences..
hidden resemblances within the contrary..

see how the great cosmos
is the mirror for the wee speck of our lives..
look..the dust of the world turned stars in the firmament..
hear the ten thousand things sing praises of the one..

everything seeks everything,
without purpose, without end, without cease.
~ hugo

poetry brings the looking-glass of reflection to our front door..
we open .. see ourselves and remembre..
our mistaken identity, our heart of understanding,
our misshapen relationship with self and other,
our original goodness...

bowing to the yes that leads to freedom..most often..
to the no that sometimes does,
to the maybe that gives us breathing room, the interval..
dropping our answers in the lap of the gods..
from pause, we rise up whole .. only a moment..
embodying every meter of our humanness
with greatfulness to the cell song .. i ..

i, for one, would like my life to be a poem..
all the verses..rich and thick and slurpy ...silky, tender, meek..
easy on the eyes, the razor’s edge, somewhere over the rainbow..
an aria of the all and everything - reduced to zero..

poetry is the antidote to technology and the market.
~ octavio paz

starbucks & sony i phones

piraeus, the ancient port of greece
has a starbucks ..a few years now..
they were not able to accept
my starbucks gift card, however..

the fish market stalls are snestled
right up to the fruit and vegetable stands..
the butchers next to them..

cheese pies on all the corners ~
along with o so many hawkers selling
quart size lighters and bizarre sewing kits..

sitting on a harbour park bench
with an elder woman..
like two old pigeons resting
in silence and the intermittent sun..
cooing ever so cooly in our different tongues..
the smell of sweet orange sneaking up our noses..

a flying dolphin will wing me to aegina..
the commuter island for athenians..
slowly i will make my way back to the world..
then i'll take on athens..

a fast talking hustler approached me..
you want this sony iphone..
the best..only ....
no, no, no..i tell him
sony is not iphone -
that is phony iphone

i love you, he tells me..
i love you back!

heading home..

the voyage of the best ship
is a zig zag of a hundred tacks..
~ralph waldo emerson

the road maps i use
are not time-tested ~
making the journey a voyage
into the unknown..
the greatest friend of our soul..
john o'donohue tells us..

dangerous business....going out of your door..
you step into the road and if you don’t keep your feet,
there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to!
~ bilbo baggins

the planning and computing part
are slack in the likes of me..
enough to get from here to there, yes..
and then..
the sea ruffles up rough,
the road bumps and grinds..
the long way 'round - the uneasy highway ..
the road less traveled - the long and winding road..
you name it; i'm on it ~

loosening the grip on getting a grip..
i cast the net wide..like a savvy fisherman..
reeling in a bounty to nourish self and other..
always circling for 'home' sooner rather than later..
on a wing and a prayer..

where is home ? *
the family tree?
how is it planted? by whom?
what is a blood line?
do any of us truly know?
we follow the trail of genealogy ~
to where?

where the heart is.. eh?
the only answer to all the questions...

please, celebrate me home....

*see blogpost home 1 april 2007

kalo pashcha!

what light is to nature,
love is to the heart of humanity..

while in california this last trip,
i picked up a cross made of tin -
at its centre..a red heart..

the criss cross of time and space..
at the crux.. the heart..

i will love ~ i will give love..
this, then..is the mantra for these days


lord of love,
make me an instrument of thy peace.
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is discord, unity;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is error, truth;
where there is sadness, joy
where there is darkness, light.

o divine love mistress,
grant that i may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
for it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.


may all we see be blessed by our sight..
every word spoken be a benediction..
our smile, a prayer of grace..
our listening be deep; our touch, healing..
our laughter, an invocation of lovingkindness..

we have but a flicker from the eternal flame
to witness the spark in one another..
let us see clearly..
remembre to remembre..
free from small mind...
into the great vast ..
into the clear light..
shall we be the luminosity
we imagine we might become?
no becoming..
only being
now..
..and forever.. hold your peace..

practice...

friends, every day do something that won't compute.
love someone who does not deserve it.
denounce the government and embrace the flag.
give your approval to all you cannot understand.
ask the questions that have no answers.
put your faith in the two inches of humus that
will build under the trees every thousand years.
laugh.
be joyful though you have considered all the facts.
practice resurrection.
~wendell berry


as timely as a river
god’s timeless life passes
into this world. it passes
through bodies, giving life,
and past them, giving death.
~ w.b.

kali anastasi!

at golgotha

this poem you will find
on the april 6..2007..post.. as well..
the good friday poem of a thousand lifetimes..

slowly the crowd grew tired of their own jeers
and began to leave. i swallowed,
tasting vinegar again. the few that remained
prayed on the ground below me,
clenching and unclenching their hands.
i noticed the sky, like a large animal
that had suddenly moved closer.
then the first breath came. i remembered
the wooden boat shaking over the rapids
of the river's mouth, bumping
at the sea's gate. i remembered
running my hands over a newly
sanded board...then the second breath
and a singing as of wheels or leaves,
and i felt the clay pot
shatter, the great wings kick once
like a new heart. then the third breath
gripped my body down through muscle
and bone to the small bell
of my birth, and i was gone.
~jay leeming

foot-loose

the enactment..or rather the reenactment
of the foot washing on the eve of the last supper..
took place here in patmos this morning..
it was only that ..an enactment..
no toes were showing..
the priests had their shoes on..
don't ask me why i was disappointed..
did i want to see the priests feet and calves?
o my o

the washing of the feet..
often times called the great act of humility..
indeed..
is most humbling ~
for those washing; those being washed
a bowing, a cleansing, a tender act of devotion..love..
the lowering of my will to thy will..if you will..

boobsi's owner..
(see the post..my life as a dog)
the sweet priest..
was the deacon, the canter, the chanter..
his rich desert voice offering the gospel of st. john..
of course, my mind wandered off to boobsi
whenever i looked up...

the square was crowded; i was standing in front
of one of those classic greek elder gents..
so kind to translate much of what was taking place..
his wife was in the back with other women friends..
they had come over from the island of kos
to spend their easter on patmos..

the day was bright and warm..and o so windy..
the priests had to hold their hats and head-dresses ~
the three large windmills were let loose,
the sight of the circling frames on the olde stone houses
was invitation for refreshment..renewal..

I listen to the wind, to the wind of my soul
Where I end up, well, I think only god really knows
I swam across the setting sun, but never, never, never, never
I never wanted water once, no never, never, never
~cat stevens / yusuf islam