Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable.
Mary Oliver
Passing Storm
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Passing storm from Mt. Evans -
Attitude
One of our Colorado sunsets Knowledge has entertained me and it has shaped me and it has failed me. Something in me still starves. In what is probably the most serious inquiry of my life, I have begun to look past reason, past the provable, in other directions. Now I think there is only one subject worth my attention and that is the precognition, the condition of my own spiritual state. I am not talking about having faith necessarily, although one hopes to. What I mean by spirituality is not theology, but attitude. Such interest nourishes me beyond the finest compendium of facts. In my mind now, in any comparison of demonstrated truths and unproven but vivid intuitions, the truth loses.
Mary Oliver, Upstream -
Attention
Attention is the beginning of devotion.
Mary OliverI found this quote in one of Mary Oliver’s books called Upstream which is a book of essays. I’ve had the book for awhile and felt the need to start reading it. Her quote caused me to reflect on what has my attention and what am I devoted to. I’m pretty much devoted to photography since I have been searching for images for many years now. I am also devoted to my meditation practice. I am devoted to my daily quiet times, reading, and journaling because they have my attention. What draws your attention? What are you devoted to?
Have a great Monday!
- Arapaho Bend Natural Area, clouds, landscape, Mary Oliver, natural areas, poems, seasons, snow, sunrises, winter scenes
Astonishment
Sunrise at Arapaho Bend Natural Area Let me keep my distance, always, from those
Mary Oliver, Evidence: Poems
who think they have the answers.
Let me keep company always with those who say
“Look!” and laugh in astonishment,
and bow their heads. -
A Poem and A Photograph
Every day
Mindful by Mary Oliver
I see or hear
something
that more or less
kills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needle
in the haystack
of light.
It was what I was born for —
to look, to listen,
to lose myself
inside this soft world —
to instruct myself
over and over
in joy,
and acclamation.
Nor am I talking
about the exceptional,
the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant —
but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab,
the daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
how can you help
but grow wise
with such teachings
as these —
the untrimmable light
of the world,
the ocean’s shine,
the prayers that are made
out of grass? -
Paying Attention
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
Mary Oliver
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?I spent an hour at one of the natural areas this afternoon. The sun felt good as I sat on the bench and looked out over the meadow, being idle and blessed. The trees along the edges of the reservoir are taking on the colors of fall, while some already stand naked of leaves. A fall wind blows in my face from the northeast. I watch clouds casting their shadows over the meadow and I could hear the prairie dogs bark as people walked along the trails. I was practicing how to pay attention.
-
Another Poem
Mocha latte after morning at a local natural area Catbird
Mary Oliver
From one branch to another, or across the path,
he dazzles with flight.
Since I see him every morning, I have rewarded myself
the pleasure of thinking that he knows me.
Yet never once has he answered my nod.
He seems, in fact, to find in me a kind of humor,
I am so vast, uncertain and strange.
I am the one who comes and goes,
and who knows why.
Will I ever understand him?
Certainly he will never understand me, or the world
I come from.
For he will never sing for the kingdom of dollars.
For he will never grow pockets in his gray wings.This is the last part of a poem by Mary Oliver called Catbird. I relate to this part of the poem because I have experienced such moments with Goldfinches, Robins, and Chickadees. I especially like where she writes, “Since I see him every morning, I have rewarded myself the pleasure of thinking that he knows me.” Yes, I talk to birds!
It is a cold fall morning with 43 degrees. I saw where Berthoud Pass had an overnight low of 18 degrees, so it’s actually warm here. After yesterday’s winds the cloudless skies are beautiful. This mornings full moon cast shadows across the meadow at the natural area. Now a mocha latte. Have an Awesome day!
