Feel Grace – 1 NaPoWriMo

Remember when magnetic words were a thing? I had two sets, not on my refrigerator, but on the front door. On thanksgiving words were pair almost randomly by dinner guests. The paired words took on deep meanings after walking past the door many times. I snapped photos of them thinking someday they would become poems. Twenty years later, on the 20th year of national/global poetry writing month, they are birthing poems. Feel free to borrow any of the word parings for your own poems. Enjoy my first word pairing poem “Feel Grace.”

Feel Grace

That holy place inside
Inner temple
Church of the soul
Blue sky inward
Star light pure night
Breathed in
through pores
and portals
Heart
Crown
Root
Upheld palms
and feet in green pastures.

Really      feel      Grace
Inner guide
Angel on our shoulder
Cosmic nudge
Turning our faces
to make benevolent choices.
To move with Grace
leaving a trail      of Grace
in our gentle wake.

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Winter Proposal

Looking out the window tonight, I saw this natural ice sculpture. The top looks like a white gold diamond ring. My mother’s wedding ring is white gold and diamond. It is so beautiful especially on fair skin. Even though we just got a foot of fresh snow here in Wisconsin, we are at the raw edge of winter into spring. Enjoy the poem and the last bits of winter.

He got down on one last winter knee,
knelt with eyes downcast in evening light.
Sun sparks bounced off his work.
All around his love shone.
Jack’s soft fingers opened
to reveal a perfect diamond
set a top a filigree stand.
“Will you take my hand
fair lady of the North
and keep me in your heart?”
“Will you wait for my return
as the wheel of the year spins?”
“Will you love and keep me,
true to me though summer’s
horned stag temptations? 

“Yes, oh yes, dear Jack Frost.”

Piling Henge

Our Florida visit beach combing for petrified shark teeth, it was these pilings in formation that caught my attention. Henges came to mind. A poem exploring the two together ensured. Ponder the poem.

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Piling Henge

Piling henge
Not circular
like hurricane
but aligning
slant of waves
bowing in frothy white robes.
Modern ritual
Worshiping gifts
of ancient sea
Boca Grande.

Moon from a Hammock

Companion poem to “View from a Hammock.” Yes the same hammock visiting friends in Florida. This was the night before the full moon. I just had to capture it through the palm fronds. Some say the state bird of Wisconsin is the mosquito, so it was fitting they showed up in this poem away from home.

Moon from a Hammock

Rockabye moon
Pinkening sky
Your light turns up
as the crickets turn on.
I rock on a sling
between two palms
summer in March
while back home lies the snow
So foreign
So strange
except for the mosquitos.

View from a Hammock

What a strange thing to hop on a plane in very winter Wisconsin and land in tropical Florida for a week. My favorite part of the week (besides chat/games time with friends) was the sunsets from the boat and evening hammock time reading a book. Our hostess, Diane, taught me how to rock with a string on my foot. “Sway” ended up being resilience in this little poem. Enjoy and sway.

View from a Hammock

I sway
Palms away
Tide comes in
Tide goes out
Breeze runs by
with the lizards.
There was a hurricane here
five months ago.
The land carries on
the bee hives recover
the cardinal calls.
All passes
blue skies
and gray.
Sway

Little Lady Driving a Big Truck

We got a big beautiful dump of snow. Winter in all its glory. Chris hopped on the snowmobile, so I ended up driving his truck. I am not a great driver but these trucks sure are cool. Finding fun in the little things. Enjoy the poem.

Little Lady Driving a Big Truck

Little lady driving a big truck
silver throne on 33-inch tires.
Perched looking down over the hood
surveying the fields
seeing far ahead,
clear sailing on suspension 
even the princess and the pea 
would love. 
Unplowed road no problem
stopping in a snow bank 
to reach the mail box
so many workhorses pulling
bow lifting like a Chris Craft.
Round the corner to home
snuggled in the lumberjack sized, 
heated seat
toasted buns and warm fingers
wielding the broad wheel.
Just don’t ask me to back a trailer
Forward on country roads is my limit
for a little lady driving a big truck.

Spirituality of Menopause

For many months, I have been studying Menopause. Today was the day to finish the poem, a culmination of my learnings and reflections. Menopause is such a beautiful, empowering, freeing time for women. I have been enjoying and savoring it immensely. Whether you are in Menopause, Manopause, or another transition, I hope you find meaning in the poem.

Spirituality of Menopause

Disrobe from young identities.
Melt away debris –
regrets, longing, fear, should.
Deepen past surface beauty
to the elemental, core, presence.
Beyond the greedy appetites,
regrets, fiery passions,
bigger, better, more,
reaching, clambering.
Beyond living on crumbs.

After seven hebdomades
enter menopause
The noble passage
Reclaimed virginity
Purity
Insight, foresight
Priestess.
Mensymoon to new
when I will face
and embrace my shadow,
when I will wear purple.

Vulnerability a door to
courage, confidence,
expanded consciousness.
The white light fills me.
Grandmother archetype
Universal psyche
Doubt falls away.
Vasomotor dilation
that hot flushing
of ego strings –
anger, pettiness, righteousness.
Contractions to birth of self
legitimate, radiant, humble.

Karmic control of my fate.
Design a harmonious life
Goddess within
never separate.
The winter rose.
Rest in the arms
of the great mother,
there, unclouded visions come.

Refine
Regenerate
Pass into Crone and creativity
Luxuriate in enoughism.
Slow and small of broad days,
of relished memories.
Gathered wisdom
crystalizes.
Elder Wand
Acute intuition
Reflection, contentment
Moving into the years of time.
Run slows to walk to stand
eyes upward
grateful.

Year of Contentment 2023

Contentment keeps coming up for me. I have been choosing to let pressures get in the way instead of caring for my psyche. Winter in Wisconsin is a beautiful and reflective time, a time to choose contentment, hygge, to snuggle in as well as get outdoors. Practice makes habit, so 2023 will be a year of seeing and creating contentment. Join me in this healthy practice. Happy New Year!

Year of Contentment

Contentment lives inside
in the quiet reaches of knowing,
that old knowing,
in our bones.
Contentment lives in Nature knowing
the birds sing.
I, too, sing my song of little joys.

A new year to see
from a perch of contentment
Believe it and see it,
see it everywhere
Contentment
in the face of a sleeping babe,
a snowy sunrise,
a belly laugh,
the transition of a loved one.
Contentment is in the daily mundane
and life-event passages.

In this new year,
use words of Contentment
of celebration
of love.
Emulate Contentment
to help others find theirs.
Love thyself
Love our blessed world
for here is where we dwell
the untrodden path within,
Contentment.

Christmas Content

We made it to Christmas Eve day 2022. Snow and wind of a real winter lends to the holiday feel. No matter how big or small or “me” time your holiday gathering is remember to find moments of contentment. Notice the beauty around you and within you. Merry Christmas everyone.

Christmas Content

Earth anchored trees
Birth beacons
Quiet amid the rattle of spent oak leaves,
fluttering weathered seven-pointed flags
weaving with the feather-topped goldenrod.
Tip-toeing deer 
Fringe of night clear eyes alert.
All is dusted with angel-white snow.

Season of comfort and joy.
We are quiet too
fed warm by pot-bellied Ash logs
softly crackling.
Silent night speaks of contentment,
of presence with the trees.
Fir tree our Christmas symbol
Everlasting life
in this promised moment. 

Reach in
and find earth anchored contentment
warmed by the waxing crescent moon,
moon of positivity and faith.
Between the veil of snow-dimmed sky
and ancestral glow
is the sacred silence
where we confront our shadow,
forgive our shadow
and flutter among the seven-pointed stars
where lies love and kindness.

Electric Contentment

Freezing rain all day. Hard on the deer and drivers but so beautiful on the trees. Big weather energizes me so this excited poem came out of me listening to the wind, hearing the heavy branches crack, and seeing the glittery ice-cycles grow. The Grasshopper drinks we had before driving home in the sleet last night showed up in the poems too. Be safe while soaking up natures big energy.

Electric Contentment

Glistening
Ice heavy
Head bobbing branches
Crystal Christmas rain
Coat of diamonds
Ripe for wishes
Wishes
New year of electric contentment
What this that?
Oh it’s joy!
Yes
The joy of winter
of hibernation
Fat on supper clubs
and minty ice cream
and togetherness
and simple needs met
and listening to the wind.
Yes, soak up electric wind
and snuggle in deep.