JOY SALYERS
  • Joy
    • My Back Story
    • Guiding Principles
    • Testimonials
    • Events and Press
  • Blog
  • Resources
  • Work with Me
    • Topics
    • How I Work
    • How I DON'T Work
    • Options & Pricing
    • Are You Ready?
    • Contact >
      • Leave Feedback

Poetry - Catching the Spirit

9/1/2017

0 Comments

 
Catching the Spirit
 
I don’t notice the turtles until I hear the splashes, 
just catching sight of two disappearing into the water.
The other, the biggest, still sits on the log, long striped neck
turned to watch me. A splash of raindrops makes the water
sparkle, and he is suddenly too beautiful to bear.
 
     Well, I guess you do have ears to hear;
     at least that’s something.
     I am waiting at the river.
     Do you come down each morning
     to say hello, to sit and wait back at me,
     to let me know I might trust you?
 
     No. You are a tourist who charges by,
     counting on a sight to tell the folks about
     as you compare notes in the parking lot.
     (I’ll bet you expect to catch the Holy Ghost
     tomorrow too, your first Sunday back since Christmas.)
 
     But we are not in the business of wonder-by-demand.
 
     You ask for blessings, but have you prepared yourself
     to be blessed? No, don’t answer.
     I hear you muttering your to-do lists and counting your aerobic steps.
 
     You want to be grabbed by the hair and swung to face amazement.
     But we don’t work that way.
     (Well, maybe sometimes we do. But who are you to count on it?)
 
His eyes never leave mine.
Two damselflies hover in the air between us.
I cannot stop myself; I take a quiet step toward him.
Instantly, he is gone, the loud splash his reproach and invitation.
 
I walk on, watching the ground carefully as hundreds of tiny peepers scatter before my feet.

​
by Joy Salyers, (c) 2006
 
0 Comments

Mindful

6/1/2017

0 Comments

 
I'm actually a bit on the fence about Mary Oliver. She is a wonderful crafter of words, and her poems about nature can provide a powerful entryway into a deeper level of relating to a very alive, active Universe. But if you stop with her poetry, you haven't quite gotten there yet, and I think too many people do just that -- read one of her pieces, sigh, and say, "Ah, that's so true!" without walking through the door she has opened to continue on a deeper journey that might actually change them.

However, I do like this poem, because it is SUCH an inviting doorway to the act of being present and the habit of joy. And in our culture, even noticing that door, let alone putting one's hand upon its lichen-encrusted knob, is a fairly revolutionary act. It's called "Mindful."


Every Day
   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 is 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?
Picture
0 Comments

    Joy Salyers

    Counselor/Coach, Consultant, Folklorist, High Priestess of Where Things Meet and the Places Between

    Categories

    All
    Binary
    Bliss
    Body
    Compassionate Curiosity
    Daily Practice
    Deep Self Knowledge
    Documentary Arts
    Justice
    Nutrition
    Poems
    Self World Interaction
    Self-world Interaction
    Spirituality
    Tools
    Toxic Culture

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Joy
    • My Back Story
    • Guiding Principles
    • Testimonials
    • Events and Press
  • Blog
  • Resources
  • Work with Me
    • Topics
    • How I Work
    • How I DON'T Work
    • Options & Pricing
    • Are You Ready?
    • Contact >
      • Leave Feedback