• Art,  Art/Design,  Mary Oliver,  poems,  poetry,  quotes

    The Miracle of a Kiss

    September 22, 2023

    If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
    don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
    of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
    to be. We are not wise, and not very often
    kind. And much can never be redeemed.
    Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this
    is its way of fighting back, that sometimes
    something happens better than all the riches
    or power in the world. It could be anything,
    but very likely you notice it in the instant
    when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the
    case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
    of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.

    Mary Oliver

    This past weekend I shot some senior portraits in Red Feather Lakes. While I was there I made another trip on Elf Lane. As I got out and walked among all the elfs and assorted other characters I suddenly, but not unexpectedly, experienced joy. Thought this little frog and princess needed to have their photo taken.

    Read More
  • clouds,  horizons,  landscape,  Mary Oliver,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  quotes

    …honor the world

    September 18, 2023

    Photography by nature is spiritual considering, it comes from the darkness to show the light.

    Kevin Russo

    I was told the other day by someone that they no longer look my sunrise images. However, I’ve come to know that the beginning of a new day offers a unique sunrise, there is no other like it, and if I’m present to it then it’s another opportunity to live one more day. So for me a sunrise is a sacred moment, where we move from darkness to light. In a Mary Oliver poem called The Swan she writes, Of course the path to heaven doesn’t lie in flat miles. It’s in the imagination with which you perceive this world, and the gestures with which you honor it. My presence and the photographs I capture is my act of receiving this morning’s predawn sky and is my gesture to honor the world. I will probably keep doing that to my last breath.

    Read More
  • leaves,  Mary Oliver,  moon,  Plants,  quotes

    … the real poem.

    August 30, 2023

    From the Book of Time

    I rose this morning early as usual, and went to my desk.
    But it’s spring,

    and the thrush is in the woods,
    somewhere in the twirled branches, and he is singing…

    I am touching a few leaves.

    I am noticing the way the yellow butterflies
    move together, in a twinkling cloud, over the field.

    And I am thinking: maybe just looking and listening
    is the real work.

    Maybe the world, without us,
    is the real poem.

    Mary Oliver

    I hope you were able to see the blue moon last night or this morning, one of the brightest and largest moons of 2023. I will try this evening to watch it rise and maybe get a photo. My son called last night and was in complete awe of the size and beauty of the moon. The blue moon won’t happen again until 2037. Praying for those in the path of hurricane Idalia! I am off to meet my friend Mark for the senior breakfast meal at IHOP. Have a great day!

    Read More
  • Mary Oliver,  Metro Parks,  quotes

    That Slow Seduction

    August 24, 2023
    Blendon Woods – May 2009

    I could not be a poet without the natural world. Someone else could. But not me. For me the door to the woods is the door to the temple.

    Mary Oliver

    I’m rather new to poetry, in both reading and writing. Primarily because I did not understand it, nor did I put the effort into learning what it was about and what it could teach me. It just wasn’t time yet in my life. Now it is. Some of that slow seduction could be spending more quality time in the natural world, or as Mary suggests the temple. I like how Maria Popova says it here. Having said that I want to thank all of you who read and maybe even understand my attempts at writing poetry. But not today!

    Read More
  • fog,  horizons,  landscape,  Mary Oliver,  Plants,  poems,  poetry,  sunrises,  trees

    Conversation in My Heart

    August 15, 2023

    Another morning and I wake with thirst
    for the goodness I do not have. I walk
    out to the pond and all the way God has
    given us such beautiful lessons. Oh Lord,
    I was never a quick scholar but sulked
    and hunched over my books past the hour
    and the bell; grant me, in your mercy,
    a little more time. Love for the earth
    and love for you are having such a long
    conversation in my heart. Who knows what
    will finally happen or where I will be sent,
    yet already I have given a great many things
    away, expecting to be told to pack nothing,
    except the prayers which, with this thirst,
    I am slowly learning.

    Mary Oliver
    Read More
  • Mary Oliver,  poems,  poetry,  quotes,  writing/reading

    It’s a gift…

    August 10, 2023

    I believe poetry is very old.
    It’s very sacred.
    It wishes for a community.
    It’s a community ritual, certainly.

    And that’s why, when you write a poem,
    you write it for anybody and everybody…
    It’s a gift to yourself,
    but it’s a gift to anybody who has a hunger for it.

    Mary Oliver
    Read More
  • Mary Oliver,  poems,  poetry

    Love as never before…

    August 7, 2023
    Yesterday’s mornings predawn colors over Dixon Reservoir

    Be still, my soul, and steadfast.
    Earth and heaven both are still watching
    though time is draining from the clock
    and your walk, that was confident and quick,
    has become slow.

    So, be slow if you must, but let
    the heart still play its true part.
    Love still as once you loved, deeply
    and without patience. Let God and the world
    know you are grateful.
    That the gift has been given.

    May Oliver, The Gift

    I’m beginning to accept aging as more of a constant companion than someone to avoid. Nor do I live in a fantasy that it will go away. Aging now walks with me every day and walk at that slower pace. Some days I feel the grief of losing that walk that was confident and quick in my life, as Mary says in her poem. Yet, in this season of my life I am grateful for the gift of the life which has been given. What a gift it is to slow down, be present to life, fully experience and enjoy it. So my simple prayer this morning is that I may love as never before. The world needs more love! Why not let a spark begin with me.

    I began a crock pot of 15 bean soup this morning. Well there are more than 15 beans in it, which will be ready about 1:00 pm if you wanna come over. May you have a wonderful day, filled with a heart of gratitude!

    Read More