Poetry

A Slow Rising

~ shoreacres ~ 58 Comments
American Lotus ~ Nelumbo lutea
Brazos Bend State Park
“Be a lotus in the pond,” she said, “opening
slowly, no single energy tugging
against another but peacefully,
all together.”
I couldn’t even touch my toes.
“Feel your quadriceps stretching?” she asked.
Well, something was certainly stretching.
Standing impressively upright, she
raised one leg and placed it against
the other, then lifted her arms and
shook her hands like leaves. “Be a tree,” she said.
I lay on the floor, exhausted.
But to be a lotus in the pond —
opening slowly, and very slowly rising —
that I could do.
                                  “First Yoga Lesson” ~ Mary Oliver

Comments always are welcome.

Three Things to Remember on a Monday Morning

~ shoreacres ~ 56 Comments
“Dancing in the Streets” ~ Angel City Chorale, Los Angeles
Sue Fink, Founder and Artistic Director

 

Three Things to Remember

 

As long as you’re dancing,
you can break the rules.
Sometimes breaking the rules
is just extending the rules.
Sometimes, there are no rules.

 

Mary Oliver

 

Comments always are welcome.

In the Country of the Wild-Haired Corn

~ shoreacres ~ 57 Comments

 

I don’t know
if the sunflowers
are angels always,
but surely sometimes.
Who, even in heaven,
wouldn’t want to wear,
for awhile,
such a seed-face
and brave spine —
a coat of leaves
with so many pockets —
and who wouldn’t want
to stand for a summer day
in the hot fields,
in the lonely country
of the wild-haired corn?
This much I know —
When I see the bright
stars of their faces
when I’m strolling nearby,
I grow soft in my speech,
and soft in my thoughts,
and I remember how everything will be everything else,
by and by.
                    “By the Wild-Haired Corn” ~ Mary Oliver

 

Comments always are welcome.