Support Life

   
     I posted this photo on Face Book and Twitter yesterday, Veteran's Day. I didn't say anything about that though, I hadn't formulated what I thought about it yet. In fact, I had been taking a little nap in my car. I was feeling depleted, the result of some recent challenges, investigation and cleaning of my internal house. That was the reason I went to the beach in the first place. I needed to rest and be healed by the sea.

    I opened the windows of my car on the still warm day, laid my head on the headrest, closed my eyes, and rested my spirit, nourished by the smell of the sea air and the sounds of November at the beach. The next time I opened my eyes, at four something in the afternoon, there was the image of the sun, lowering in the sky in front of me and shining on the car parked next to me. A few people, maybe half a dozen, wandered the shoreline, or just stood looking out. A couple, like me, sat in their cars.

    That is when I began to think about Veteran's Day. Today I offer this prayer.
 

         May we remember, the loss of all those from every country, throughout time, who have died at the hands of war.

         May we, who have stayed at home, offer gratitude to those who risked their lives, their limbs, their minds, and their hearts on the fields, skies and waters of battle in the attempt to protect the lands and lives of those they loved.

        Most importantly, may we fervently envision and assist in creating an evolution and  future for humanity that does not include killing as an acceptable solution to resolving our conflicts.

       May we learn to nourish and support Life as our planet has done for us throughout our time here.

       May we know our place in the Universe and offer our Love and our Lives in Gratitude.     

How to Inspire

If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.

               ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPERY

Why Write?

I write because I love. I write because I don't know how to live without saying out-loud what is true for me at this moment, to clarify. I write because I don't know how to keep it all in without letting some out. I write because this beauty and pathos is so overwhelming -- it is impossible to bear, without exclaiming. I write because I need to. I write because I love words, their sound and ability to turn sound into meaning. I write because language is how we perceive this world and I have an enormous amount of words spewing and spilling about. I write because there is something inside that says, I long to reach you, to tell you how I see it, because if I don't, there is no one else who can. I write because I believe in everyone's story, even my own. I write because history is made up of each of these stories, and I claim my place at the fireside. I write, because it's easier than lugging an 8x10 foot canvas around every minute of the day. I write because it requires no one or nothing else besides me a pen and a page. I write because I have always written - lies, truth, story, memory, impossible dreams, regrets, angers, resentments, sorrows, songs, poems, thank you's, and prayers.

It's a Practice, it's an Art, it's a Commitment.

“Poetry is somebody standing up, so to speak, and saying, with as little concealment as possible, what it is for him or her to be on earth at this moment.” Galway Kinnell

It's a practice, it's an art, it's a commitment.