a tapestry of green
with mixed colors dance
before our eyes absorbing us
into the bright sunlight
outside our door
a cool breeze wraps
our neck with the shade
of the large trees
swaying to and fro
engulfing us
for the first time
in too many days
light lunch al fresco
and a short walk to the
koi meditation pool
gently setting us on the
healing path from our
collective dis-ease and
its isolating malaise to
our shared holistic Earth Home
Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
July 11, 2022
photos by author
Author’s note: upon my beloved
and I slowly recovering from
being infected with COVID.
serial poem: the caregiver and the beloved
“3:00 A.M. humor at the porta-potty”
her hair stabbing wildly
this way and that
brushing it out of her eyes
and softly smoothing it
around her face
very seriously she asks,
in a bright, clear voice,
“do you like my hairdo?”
to which I answer, “well Yes,
I have always liked a French buffont”
silly laughter ensues,
she has always loved my jokes
Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
July 20, 2022
photo of my beloved circa 1963
writing from our home
in Nashville, where we
are under an excessive
heat warning all this week,
high humidity and temperatures
my beloved and I
both testing positive for COVID
for the first time and
quarantined at our home,
we are managing
writing this now,
my eyeballs hurt,
my fever is breaking
and I am covered in sweat
and trying to control a bad cough
tragically, we are inundated
daily with bad news of
gun violence, mass shootings,
and extrajudicial shootings
of young black men by police
and all this, not to mention,
the house hearings on the
criminal ex-45th. ‘president’
and his fascist, anti-democracy,
insurrectionist efforts to steal election
dear hearts, grateful for
all of you who have expressed concerns
and who walk this journey with us,
blessed to belong in authentic
community with you all
Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
July 7, 2022
photo by author
poem: somewhere between solitude and loneliness
being here now in solitary existence
somewhere between solitude and loneliness
reflecting on recent events and experiences:
aging, disease, injury, separation, siloing,
the world and its totalizing systems
struggling, striving, sitting with challenges,
reconciling the grace of our being,
the preciousness of our life together,
and the amazing beauty of our Earth Home
with tender heart and teary eyes
busy, tired, and weary at times,
continuing at my task knowing
that we can bear it together
through connecting, belonging, and sharing,
grateful for authentic relationships and community
sitting quietly, listening,studying, reflecting, creating,
and connecting continue in this busy season of the suffering
arriving as an unexpected guest at my door,
each invited in and treated with truth and respect
asleep on the porch
bumble bees in nandinas
cool breeze rustling leaves
Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
June 6, 2022
photos by author
the beauty of light
glinting off the clear water
of a flowing stream
Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
June 3, 2022
video by author
hooking one’s hopes on the egos
of humans and worldly events
crushes our souls
peace is denied at the tyrant’s whim,
human rights are ruled unconstitutional,
life, liberty, and happiness end at the point of a gun
we, in the world, not of the world,
Earth students, Spirit beings,
our hopes are set in shared visions
the diminution of ego of True Self,
the diminution of control of Authentic Being,
the diminution of personal power of universal Cosmic Consciousness
our visions of yes/and unity, wounded healing,
mutuality, beloved community, wholeness,
the way of the Cosmos
one’s authentic hope lies
in deep intuitive knowing, envisioning,
and faith in manifesting transformation
beloveds, be the change
shanti, shanti, shanti
thou art that
Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
