To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"
And whispered in the sounds of silence.
Blue River Colorado
Angry Eyes
Your angry eyes
flash like
mirrors in the sunlight
reflecting pain
protecting your honor
doling out false self worth and bravado.
Your eyes
that twinkled this morning with
compassion and passion
widen this evening
with contempt.
Freedom from organized religion gg
The following was a five-minute writing exercise at a writing group in California.
The prompt was, Freedom.
Freedom
Freedom to leave a place when the urge hits. To stay when you make a connection.
Freedom to make your own choices. Choosing to be alone without being lonely.
Freedom to love yourself and to accept your shortcomings as part of the one you love.
Having faith in yourself.
Freedom to seek companionship and acceptance from others without feeling needy or insignificant.
Freedom to like yourself! To be proud of yourself. To appreciate the choices you make, the friends you have, the places you visit, and the time and place you find yourself in.
Freedom to be wrong without fear of ridicule.
Freedom to make mistakes and accept the blame.
Freedom to love.
God's Peace
© By M.S.Lowndes
God’s tender love and peace
Is what we all long for
In a world so hopelessly chaotic
So wobbly and unsure
Love brings stability to our minds
And calmness to our souls
For that is what we desperately need
As this world can be so cold
We need to have God’s peace
When turmoil’s in our lives
For God’s peace doesn’t depend
On the daily pressures of life
When we have those stressful days
God’s peace can often soothe
And bring us such a quiet hope
That chases away the blues
So when you feel the pressure on
Remember Jesus Christ
Receive from Him the peace He gives
As His daily dose for life!
© By M.S.Lowndes
-----
I think God's Peace would make a lovely song. gg
-----
The Glow, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Jan Philips is a wonderful philosopher and writer. Check out her work.
Here she implores women to take time for themselves.
To Be An Artist -
By Jan Philips
It is not necessary to make a living from our creations or is it necessary to have our work hanging on fine museum walls or the praise of critics. It is not necessary we are published, or famous people own our work. To be an artist it is necessary to live with our eyes wide open. To breathe in the colors of mountain and sky. To know the sound of leaves rustling, the smell of snow, the texture of bark.
It is necessary to rub our hands all over life.
To sing when and where we want, to take in every detail and jump when we get to the edge of the cliff. To be an artist is to notice every beautiful and tragic thing, to cry freely, to collect experience and shape it into forms that others can use. It is not to whine about not having time but to be creative with every moment. To be an artist is not to wait for others to define us, but to define ourselves and claim our lives.
It is our creative work that brings us to life; feeds our spirits and sees us through the dark. We might feel alone but we are not alone, there are hundreds, thousands of us in the night doing as we do; trading sacred time for the bliss of creating. There are a lot of things we don’t have in life, but time is not one of them. Time is all we have. One lifetime under this name to create a body of work that says
This is how I saw the world.
Our work is worthy of whatever time it takes!
Barrel Race
I’ve spent a lot of time in the desert these past 5 years. The wind is the desert’s worst enemy. It’s difficult on the nerves when there are more than three days in a row of winds over 50MPH.
The Wind
The wind whistles like men on holiday in Rome.
The wind rakes the sand to blast every surface.
The wind gives tumble weed no place to land.
The wind swipes at struggling birds like a bully.
The wind growls and pounds at the door like a jilted lover
determined to get her back or kill her.
Wind
The wind howls --
Like a woman who just lost her only child.
Like a coyote grateful for the light of the full moon.
Like a man celebrating a win.
The wind whistles --
Like a hunter in search of his Irish Setter.
Like the referee silencing the coach.
Like a horny construction worker looking for attention.
The wind pounds --
The car into the shoulder
Sand into my face
The door from my hand and slams it on my rig.
The wind Juggles my Rig –
Like the ground shifted under the road.
Like a tiger batting a bowling ball.
Like a gorilla handles luggage.
Fear
Seeps in
through tiny pores
like reverse sweat
unnoticed
unwanted
unclaimed
an unseen master
of disguise.
Fear plays tidally winks with emotions
all jumbley and jumpy
until feeling
anything at all is painful
and confusing.
Why try?
Recognize fear to master it.
Unmask this
treacherous traitor
of the spirit
to liberate emotions.
The Salten Sea, Niland, California, USA
(The color on this was not adjusted.)
Bringing a lake to the desert was one of Sonny Bono’s projects just before his suspicious death. The body of water is called the Salten Sea. The desert is trying its best to reclaim that real estate.
Niland California is home to the Slabs, or Slab City, an area that touts itself as “The Last Free Place on Earth.” Up until the demon Meth possessed some of the more recent colonists, the Slabs was a shining example of a community of people thriving with no money at all. Most Gated Communities are not as harmonious. gg
Reasons to Love
I love you for your --
Spirit
Mind
Kindness
Compassion
Caring
Eagerness to please
Selflessness
Your gentle, sweet light
Your tenderness
And your generous spirit
I love that you Love your children
I especially like that you --
Nourish me
Enjoy life
Help people
Read to me
Are fond of poetry
Sing to me
Make me laugh
Get pleasure from music
Dance
Enjoy beauty
Are very smart
Take pleasure in pleasing me
Love making love to me
Help me
I love that you make me Happy!
Haiku -
Whoops
Reading morning mail
coffee spills on my laptop
snap crackle -- all gone
Joshua Tree
Crazy Dr. Seuss trees
With craggy arms akimbo
And spiny fingers outstretched
To scratch the dry desert air
Weave among
Ancient mammoth mudballs embossed
With God's fingerprints.
As the desert falls asleep
A cloud of quiet
Smothers my ears.
In this deafly silence
My loose lens cap clangs like a one-man-band
With each step.
Be Different
by an Unknown Nome
I met a little elfman
Down where the lillies grow
I asked him why he was so small
And why he didn’t grow
I’m quite as big for me he said
As you are big for you
--- Anonymous
(I like that poem because we have yet to realize we are all stardust, we are all golden. gg)
There is No Need for Worry
Paraphrased from the Dahlia Lama
If there is something we can do
then we can do something
so there is no need to worry.
If there is nothing we can do
then we can do nothing
so there is no need to worry.
Once we chose Heaven or Hell our only obligation in this life is to have fun, as long as we don’t hurt anyone else. gg
Life’s trials can become seeds of blessings. gg
Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around us in awareness.
--- James Thurber
Better Now Song
This is the right one
a bit smaller than the too big one
better than, the one I had, that wouldn’t run.
This is the good dream –
better than it’s ever been
better than, the other one, where I just couldn’t seem.
well it’s high and low
it’s doe see doe
how could I know
that dreaming could, be so good to me.
This is the best one
better than that other one
better than, the one I had, that was no fun.
Gratitude
I am grateful for my small ears
They don’t let me hear everything
They let me hear what I need to hear
We weren’t meant to hear everything people say about us
I am grateful for the freedom that comes with dislike
I know I don’t like everyone
And I know everyone does not like me – so it works out well
What a dull world it would be to be otherwise
I am grateful to be different
I am grateful to be the same
I am grateful to experience life as me
I am grateful I don’t care
I am grateful that I care
I am grateful to watch the world turn in a sunset
I am grateful for the new day and all its opportunities
Don’t expect to get more than you’re willing to give. gg
This was a seven minute writing class exercise. We wrote from the prompt - Something just didn't feel right.
Poser
Smooth character
Looks good
Says the right things
Wants me to come over to see his etchings.
He laughs easily
He’s a pretty good cook
He reads me poetry.
Why is this guy a single?
Ah -- A Temper.
Controlling
So easily enraged
I'll leave -- I should stay away.
He’s sorry -- he can do better.
So charming
So sweet
So mean -- Now angry
Pushing me away but
He wants to hold on.
Something just doesn't feel right
Feels like a sticky web.
Dance Delight
Feet Playing
Bottoms Swaying
Legs Weave
Breasts Heave
Rhythms Streaming
Faces Beaming
The Tune’s Beguiling
Everyone’s Smiling
Ocean at Night
Wave thunder surrounds the thick darkening mist
Over the sparkling stars that float inside the black swelling water.
I am a grain of sand pushed and molded
In the foam of the crashing
of immense sound, rhythm and motion.
Anyway
I remember writing this. I have no idea how this ended up on Mother Theresa's wall
or why it is credited to Kent Keith. If Kent Keith wrote it I will remove it from this ebook. I’d also like to see some of his other poetry.
Anyway
People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them, anyway.
If you are kind, People may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind, anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed, anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank, anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight.
Build, anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy, anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good, anyway.
Give the world the best you have,
and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you have, anyway.
Judging brings bad karma. gg
NOW
There is no past
only a NOW
that no longer exists
There is no future
only a NOW
that hasn’t happened yet
Don’t live for the future or in the past
live for
NOW then
NOW then
NOW
Make the most of NOW
NOW
We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit.
- e. e. cummings
(How True! We can say these things to ourselves. I say, “I deeply and completely love and respect myself,” or, “I deeply and completely love and accept myself;” whenever I stumble, or want to change some negative behavior, or when I’m in pain, or can’t sleep. gg)
I wrote The Mirror was from a five-minute writing exercise at writing group in California.
The prompt was, I look at myself in the mirror:
The Mirror
I look at myself in the mirror; only it's a 10 X mirror so it shows every pore. Nothing anybody else would ever see - except maybe babies.
Looking too closely is crazy making. It's a much nicer picture when I look in the hall mirror when I'm not wearing glasses. I see no blemishes, no wrinkles, no tiny misplaced hairs.
It's the same when I fixate over foibles I'm sure no one else even notices.
Forgiveness is something I need to give myself.
Nothing is Ever Good Enough for Me.
Nothing is ever good enough for me. Isn’t that what you tell everyone?
You’re right! It isn’t.
When I give you myself, and I get NOTHING in return. It isn’t good enough.
When I give you my soul, and I get NOTHING in return. It isn’t good enough.
When I give you my life, and I get NOTHING in return. It isn’t good enough.
When I give you my love, and I get NOTHING in return. It isn’t good enough.
When I give you the greatest gift of children, and you scold me and call me names and accuse me of trying to deceive you and for nine months I get no love and no support, NOTHING. It wasn’t good enough.
When your children need you and they get NOTHING. It isn’t good enough.
When your children want to hug you and they get NOTHING. It isn’t good enough.
When they were young girls and they needed assurance from you that they were attractive, and they got NOTHING. It wasn’t good enough.
When I was working and going to school and they needed you home to feel safe and secure, and you left them alone, and they got NOTHING. That wasn’t good enough.
The next time you gleefully extol your virtues and say nothing is ever good enough for me - Know that you are right!
Who can you trust?
Who can you trust?
You!
Who can you believe?
You!
What you do is worthwhile.
Make time for yourself.
Be proud of yourself.
Be pleased with the things you’ve done.
Find your own happiness in the happiness you give others.
Make joy and share it!
Share all you know and all you have because the wealth you get from giving is not measured in dollars. gg
Question everything! gg
Be satisfied with your best.
If you give it all you’ve got, you’ll have nothing to regret.
Love yourself.
Treat yourself well.
Believe in yourself and others will believe in you.
Trust yourself and others will trust you. gg
Don’t Say Anything
The advice - If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all - is excellent advice.
I’ve been in British Columbia, Canada this summer and I notice they take that counsel a step further. If you don’t have anything to say, don’t say anything. Idle chit chat doesn’t exist. There is little interaction on a purely a social level. There are whole societies in the US who wouldn’t know how to exist without useless banter. I’m beginning to realize how important meaningless social exchange is to the human psyche and mental well being. It appears as though exorbitant numbers spend their lives here in solitude.
There are some towns in the US that don’t interact. There are people who walk the streets with blinders on, never making eye contact, never saying ‘please’ or ‘thank you.’ Never lifting their eyes to see the beauty of the world around them.