Heart and Grit

Poems and Blog

I create a new poem each week based on my current reflections and publish it on Fridays. You are invited to share this quiet space by perusing my poem collection (in purple) to your right. If a poem resonates with you, please feel free to share your thoughts/feelings in the Comment Section at the end of each piece. Thank you …

Faith

Playing hide and seek behind dusty stacks of doctrine — whose stiffness has stifled our centuries …

Sister

“Why she had to go, I don’t know. She wouldn’t say”.
Lennon/McCartney

I create a new poem each week based on my current reflections and publish it on Fridays. You are invited to share this quiet space by perusing my poem collection (in purple) to your right. If a poem resonates with you, please feel free to share your thoughts/feelings in the Comment Section at the end of each piece. Thank you …

Faith

Playing hide and seek behind dusty stacks of doctrine — whose stiffness has stifled our centuries …

Sister

“Why she had to go, I don’t know. She wouldn’t say”.
Lennon/McCartney

Bug in a Rug

“A cock crowed. Shrill and clear – reckoning nothing of wizardry or war – only the morning … far above the shadows of death …”

Rain

What are you saving for a rainy day — that when it finally arrives, might be too late?

Planting Daisies

“Those who will not slip beneath
the still surface on the well of grief
turning down to its black water
to the place that we can not breathe
will never know
the source from which we drink”
David Whyte

I am Willing

“Try not to resist the changes that come your way. Instead, let life live through you. And do not worry that your life is turning upside down. How do you know that the side you are used to is better than the one to come?”
Rumi

Fire with fire

“It is a tiger that devours me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire.”
Jorge Luis Borges

Six Degrees of Separation

“Six Degrees of Separation” proposes that each of us abides a mere six humans away from every other person on earth. That we might chance-meet anyone in the world with six or fewer mutual connections.

Like a Face

“You hold Life like a face, between your palms. A plain face, no charming smile, no violet eyes, and you say, yes, I will take you. I will love you, again.”

Course Correction

We didn’t chart our course in 2020. It was thrust upon us without will.

But did we really think that Mother Nature would press the pause button on our whole world without cause?

Wearing Thin

You’ve been an eager fan. Received so much from his teachings over the years. Can scarcely believe the extraordinary benefit.

But lately, the blush is off the rose.

More Love

Did you know that the hard moment you just experienced with your friend was an opportunity for more love?

Delete

Let’s start by giving my own exhaustion the heave-ho.

Ok — done. Moving on to other worthy candidates for the delete button.

Bad News

When was the last time you listened to a news report and said to yourself, “wow — that was so uplifting. Just made my day!”

Gray Wolf

The shooting began in late February.

Within three days, twenty percent of the magnificent Gray Wolf population in Wisconsin had been slaughtered.

Media Mind

I switch on the television. And flick it right off.
It’s like static white noise to my ears.
I find little in tv-land to teach me kindness.

Pressure Cooker

“The heat is on, on the street. Inside your head, on every beat. And the beat’s so loud, deep inside. The pressure’s high, just to stay alive. ‘Cause the heat is on.”
Glenn Fry

Seeing and Being Seen

We all long to be seen. Whether extraverted, introverted, shy or outgoing.
We want to be known for who we are. Not just for what we’ve done.

Bypassing Bias

Bias — is a bit like walking around town in the same old coat, no matter what the weather conditions.

Retreat

I know it’s time to retreat into the Silence of solitude when … I am the frequent subject of my own critical eye.

Negotiating with Life

“Negotiations and love songs are often mistaken for one and the same”. Paul Simon

Overcast mood meets the grey skies of a Sunday morning.

Heart of a Blogger

We’re flippin’ the script, y’all. This week, our blogger’s swiveling the lens onto herself and snapping a selfie.

Anticipation

I waited a year for its arrival.

But when the sought-after treat finally dropped anchor at my front door, I’d pitched it into the garbage within minutes.

Stepping Up

You’re being called to ‘play bigger’. And, it’s scary as sh*t.
Because you’re an introvert, right?

Character

“I grabbed the mic and walked towards the stage. They said, ‘knock them dead, Steve’!

I replied, ‘they’re already dead … I’m about to knock them ALIVE’!”

Foot Steps

You know you need to travel.

But, how are you going to take that first step when you can’t see the road ahead?

I’m Swearing Off …

It took me a week to come up with these cheery ones. (God help me if I’d had two weeks.)

Worries, concerns, annoyances, agitations … Those little f-faces that strong-arm their way into your space.

Love at Capacity

You are streaming love out, full bore.
Shining your Light – strikin’ the bell.
You’re shaking it up, sister/brother. Amen!
And now, for some radical candor. How’s it going with your love life?

Places We Hide

red moon

I don’t know about you, but there are times when I feel like I just can’t face anybody. And, I mean any body.

Passion and Purpose

Are you feeling like you’re supposed to be “living your purpose” — but, you’re not pulling it off?

Maybe you’ve only got a slim sense as to what ‘purpose’ actually is (or should be)?

So, how the heck are you going to lay your hands on it?

Across a Great Divide

Here’s a cliffhanger for the heart.

Your cousin has invited you into her confidence. She’s ready to confess a secret — one she’s kept to herself until now, even from close friends and family.

By No Other Name

I sifted through my USPS “informed delivery” list for incoming mail. And it ruined my day.

First entry: a card addressed to a person whose name had landed in the dead zone over five years ago. That person was me. And the sender, my father.

Your Self Worth Slipped on a Banana Peel …

And smacks you down hard into a very dark hole.

Confidence in tatters, bright narratives shattered.

Your mirror on the world has exploded into a thousand tiny pieces — your flesh, pierced on the jagged shards of your own broken viewpoint.

Living is Easy with Eyes Closed*

Sometimes it feels that way …

But a boatload of evidence points to the contrary. Perhaps we might have a peek at what we’re closing our eyes to. And, what it’s costing us.