haiku: flickering memories
Totties’ white crochet
in Fall’s dancing light adorns
the royal blue chair
Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
October 31, 2022
photo by author
author’s note: remembering my maternal grandmother, Aline Feustel Martin (1889-1979), who we grandchildren called Tottie all her life.
writing over a lifetime
one uses tens of thousand words
baring one’s innermost soul
to the light
words can collect like rain
in the lowlands
and burst forth
in a torrent
and words can be
hard to come by
hidden in the darkness
of stultifying events
one can be filled
to over-brimming
and one can be empty
to the core
now exiled on the high knob
in the dry desert
in hopes dark clouds pour
releasing the light of new life
Herb Stone
July 19, 2022
here&now working poetry
photo by author
on this journey
through the Cosmos
and beyond into
the Great Mystery
Life is beautiful
and holy whole
filled with stories
worthy of remembering
making sense
knowing meaning
finding purpose
fitting it all together
yes, writing down the bones
of this world, Self,
relationships, and community;
of our one wild and precious life
Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
February 14, 2022
art: uncredited cover art to the book
The Crack in the Cosmic Egg by
Joseph Chilton Pearce
Author’s note: Quotes in my poem:
‘Writing Down the Bones’ is a book
by Natalie Goldberg, and ‘one wild and
precious life’ is from Mary Oliver’s
iconic poem ‘The Summer Day.’
Finding myself at an interstice in the
journey, words slow to come,
remembering why I write, and what
Annie Dillard wrote about “The gaps
are the spirit’s one home….Go up into
the gaps.” And so I go, writing it down.
poem: beauty’s healing hope rising
recalling the beauty of life
amid the roses and the thrones
always pulls me back
to the both/and wholeness
of here and now
thus remembering
that late Fall light in the Hudson Valley
a favorite literary quote
a snippet of poetry or music
loves most pure moments shared
the haelin of True Self
belonging and walking each other Home
take a deep breathe
loosen your grip
open your hands
opening and turning around
fully embracing and sharing
beauty’s healing hope rising
Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
December 4, 2021
music by Ennio Morricone
and performed by Yo-Yo Ma
‘Giuseppe Tornatore Suite’
Reflection: My Romance With Bookstores and Great Books
Over the weekend, we visited three different brick and mortar bookstores. I have
always loved bookstores and libraries. Holding the books in your hands, reading
snippets, admiring the author’s creativity, and being inspired to write.
After Cathey and I were first married in the early 1970’s , we had a VW Beetle,
which she drove to her work everyday, and a bike I rode wherever I needed to go.
This included many trips to a lovely independent bookstore in the village near where
we lived. I spent a lot of time there reading and buying the books of Jack Kerouack,
Alan Watts, Ram Dass, Carlos Casteneda, Kurt Vonnegut, Richard Brautigan, and
many others.
This weekend we visited: an Amazon storefront, a Barnes and Noble, and our
independent bookstore, Parrnassus, co-owned by the novelist, Ann Pachett, who
lives in Nashville.
At Parnassus, I purchased the newly published book, The Every, by Dave Eggers,
which is only being sold through independent booksellers at this time by the author’s
design. Interestingly, the book is available as a hardback with over 30 different cover
designs (see the book I bought below). Also, Eggers has three different subtitles as
follows: ‘At Last A sense of Order,’ or ‘The Final Days of Free Will,’ or ‘Limitless
Choice is Killing the World.’
His novel focuses on the challenges and dangers facing our culture today due to the
ever increasing growth and power of tech companies and giant e-commerce sites.
The back cover says, “The Every will keep the reader in breathless suspense about
the fate of capitalism, freedom, and the human animal.”
If you love bookstores and good writing by contemporary authors who address the
critical social and cultural challenges of our times creatively and prophetically, visit
your local independent bookstore, hold it in your hands, marvel at it, pick your cover,and buy this book by Dave Eggers. And happy reading!
