Monthly Archives: May 2021

haiku poem: warm dreams in late May’s golden light

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haiku poem: warm dreams
in late May’s golden light

Stella D’Oro
golden nuggets of bright light
sun’s warmth opening

Love Pat Hosta blooms
in the flickering shadows
under the treescape

warmth of late May
the hermit of Bird Heaven’s
Summer Solstice dreams

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
May 31, 2021

images by Herb Stone

Author’s note: I arranged the structure
of this poem into three stanzas, each of
which is a haiku unto itself.

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poem: grace can only be received with an open hand and held humbly with a light touch

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poem: grace can only be received with an open hand
and held humbly with a light touch

old man chuckling lightly to himself;
the notion of ‘aging gracefully’
a boondoggle to his mind

all empty busyness and waste of time
this holding on for dear life,
with a stranglehold on ‘grace,’

to our youthful foolishness
with a denial of our falling up
now, as I begin to see more clearly

the thread of life running ahead
yet never disappearing
to an end I do not know where or when

sensing this falling upward
in a cloud of unknowing
as one’s status, health, energy,

influence, and appearance wanes
falling upward with an authentic grace
freely given towards our Truth of Self

and the Authenticity of Belonging together
and eldering in community of liberation
more spirit than body and mind

lamenting, visioning, lifting up,
radically accepting and loving,
laughing eyes on the thread running ahead

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
May 25, 2021

photo: the author at Draper Coastal Dune Lake
in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, U.S.A.


 

 

 

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Reflection: Invitational Presence, Noticing Who Notices, Opening Our Hearts To One Another, Belonging

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Reflection: Invitational Presence, Noticing Who Notices, Opening Our Hearts To One Another, Belonging

How do we express our Highest, Most True Selves into the world and authentically belong together in mutual relationships building soulful communities?

Much of my poetry is my effort in exploring and arriving at answers to this very question. Certainly that is the central theme in my recently published book, ‘The Poetry of Resistance and Transformative Healing” https://herbstonejr.com/books/

One master teacher, in her book, ‘Belonging: Remembering Ourselves Home,” offers this sage advice: “If you are doing your part to brave the beautiful values that are coursing through you into the world, then all that’s left for you to do is to notice who notices. Don’t dismiss the invitational presence in others. Keep these ones close by noticing their gifts in return. Practice at opening the heart, yours and theirs, through fierce inquiry and the expression of truth.” Excerpt from Belonging: Remembering Ourselves Home by Toko-pa Turner (belongingbook.com)

Beloveds, let us do the hard work of fearless self inquiry leading to Self Truth, the courageous expression of these our highest values, noticing, opening hearts, and coming together in invitational presence building authentic communities, and coming home in mutual belonging together.

Love one another!

https://herbstonejr.com/reflection-invitational-presence-noticing-who-notices-opening-our-hearts-to-one-another-belonging/22/Test

poem: nature’s tableau vivant

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poem: nature’s tableau vivant

just at the edge of the clearing
where the woods begin,
sun dappled leaves stir
and the shadows flutter

the rabbits suddenly disappear
the wren suddenly silent
the stillness only punctuated
by the crows clamor

crows flying through shadow and light
cawing little dive bombers,
the stealthy fox perchance near
deep in the darkest shadows

this frozen moment of nature’s wilding,
a theatrical tableau, the artist vision,
the poets verse seeks to capture
nature’s tableau vivant vitale

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
May 20, 2021

art image by Claudio D’ Angelo

https://herbstonejr.com/poem-natures-tableau-vivant/22/Test

poem: a story of our saving grace

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poem: a story of our saving grace

fleeing the city and civilization,
traumatized, seeking solace,
she who lost her husband and young son
in the gun violence of a mass shooting,
takes up residence in a remote wilderness cabin,
cut off from the world, off the beaten path,
depending solely upon her self-reliance

her first winter here, the nature of the wild slowly
wearing her down, she cries out in the dark void
“it’s not working,” weakened and dying, she lays,
until the stranger stumbles upon her helpless,
near death, nursing her back to health, standing by her,
no questions asked, accepting her self isolation,
teaching her how to live alone in the wild

after the stranger does not return for a long while,
she hikes into the small town nearby for the first time,
finding him dying of cancer at home on his death bed,
he confesses his own trauma of killing his wife and
young daughter while driving drunk many years ago,
she now understanding she is not alone in her grief,
that wounds and healing shared, grace upon grace we are saved

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
May 18, 2021

Author’s note: This poem is inspired by my seeing
the movie ‘Land,’ a film by Robin Wright about
severe trauma, survival, human kindness, grace,
and healing

image ‘Cabin in the Wilderness’ unattributed

https://herbstonejr.com/poem-a-story-of-our-saving-grace/20/Test

poem: writing is a lifeline

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poem: writing is a lifeline

arising, my core flame
burning low, a small ember
weakened and weighed down

sitting quietly,
with little spark to spare,
rallying a bit in the silent stillness

working on my poetry
like the breath returning
stoking my inner flame

prana’s flow
chakra’s balancing
life force energizing

my writing seeks meaning
and purpose deeply
connecting me to my inner core

and a lifeline of belonging
united in community with Beloveds,
I write as my life depends on it

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
May 15, 2021

image Chakra Energy Centers
unattributed

Author’s note: The Svadhisthana Chakra, our
second chakra at the bodys sacrum, is represented
by the color orange and the element water, and it
is our energy center of creativity and self-expression.
Balancing this chakra, through breathing, pranayama,
visualization, and other techniques increases our
appreciation and creation of poetry, art, literature,
dance, theatre, music, and other forms of self-expression.
It is a conduit of inner vision and outer manifestation
of the good, the true, and the beautiful. Chanting
the sacral chakra’s mantra ‘Vam’ properly helps
balance this chakra. The mantra is chanted as a vibrational
tone and not spoken as a word. Check a source such
as YouTube to learn how to intone the mantra properly
for optimal effect.

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