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Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in theapoetics

Posted by on in SageWoman Blogs

I rose early seeking Beltane dewdrops
with which to anoint my brow.
the cupped violet stems and clover
were dry
and I found no dewdrops
in the chickweed stars.
Instead, I put out oranges
for the orioles,
ran my fingers through the dandelions,
and pressed my nose into the lilacs.
I spotted green flowers
on the mulberry trees,
found the first wild pink geraniums
and tender bells of columbine
and came face to face
with the quiet black eyes
of solemn deer in the raspberry bushes.
These things
their own kind of anointing,
their own small and significant
rites of May Magic.

b2ap3_thumbnail_pink-goddess-in-redbuds.jpg

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  • Jamie
    Jamie says #
    Molly, It's like a painting, but with words. Thanks for sharing! Still glad you left out the part with the mosquitoes and biting
  • Molly
    Molly says #
    One year it was actually ticks that I swiped across my face with my Beltane dewdrops!

Posted by on in SageWoman Blogs

I chose not to follow crows today,b2ap3_thumbnail_69344062_2412917695587105_7552633619886374912_o.jpg
but turned away
to follow the mist instead,
descending down a rocky hill
and into an underworld of my own making,
in which I laid aside
the pressures of pleasantness

and considered how it would feel
to lay my drive down
across the stones too
and walk away,
leaving it gasping in surrender
between a flattened cracker of frog
and finality.

I knelt beside blue chicory
with a cloak of white fog across my shoulders
feeling weary of smiling,
thin of patience,
and with only a thread of faded magic
beating feebly beneath my skin.
I pondered messages from purple asters,
gravel beneath my knees,
and resisted reaching for rosehips
through the ebbing bowers of poison ivy.

An unripe persimmon, gleaming purple-red
below the bright white sky,
rolled into my path
and as I made my way back up the hill
two vultures rose silent and hulking from the trees,
so close I heard their feathers whispering together.
I felt an ember quicken quietly
beneath my breast
and on the gliding motion of broad wings,
I was reminded that we can always
choose which way to go,
and that even thin and tattered magic
is worth
savoring.

 

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  • Jamie
    Jamie says #
    Molly, That's really nice. Thanks for sharing! Life is hard...it's only a cliche because it's true.

Posted by on in SageWoman Blogs

There is nothing tidy here
life is too broad and billowingb2ap3_thumbnail_67121748_2382169271995281_35922234585382912_o.jpg
to be contained,
restrained,
confined,
constrained
by lists and wishes
and well-laid plans,
or even by thin and bloodless prayers.
There is nothing tidy here,
expect wild winds and sharp teeth
amid the violets and sunrises.
There is nothing tidy here,
the world a great jumble
of twining grapevine,
sprawling brambles,
winding roots,
and beating hearts.
There is nothing to do
with such an untidy world,
but whirl with the wonder of it all,
keeping your hand outstretched
to touch everything,
even if your feet bleed
and your skin is streaked
with sorrow and joy. 

Last weekend, I was thinking about how to conclude the book I am writing, how to finish it, how to know it is done, how to wrap it up tidily, with some kind of moral or lesson for living, some kind of final conclusion of "figuring it all out." In the quiet moments as I questioned, walking around in circles on my back deck, I received a reply that then became a poem: there is nothing tidy here.

...
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Posted by on in SageWoman Blogs

 Goddess of the sacred pauseb2ap3_thumbnail_62007434_2349438221935053_7755860314008059904_o.jpg
 please grant me the courage
to lay aside swiftness
and take up slowness,
to embrace limitations as learning,
silence as stabilizing,
waiting as worthy,
and sitting as divine.
Goddess of the sacred pause
help me to know stillness as strength,
patience as powerful,
and healing time
as holy necessity.

I fell down hard this week and injured my ankle pretty badly. It has been hard to go from the magic of mobility, to spending time in bed with my leg elevated and an ice pack on. As is common to note when dealing with an unexpected experience, I am noticing how very much I took for granted my own swift movements through the day, the everydayness of being able to easily get myself where I need to go.

...
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  • Jamie
    Jamie says #
    Molly, Very nice prayer and thanks for sharing. I had a hiking accident a couple days ago, which was (thankfully) minor and did n
  • Molly
    Molly says #
    Thank you! I'm glad you were okay after your accident too. This has highlighted for me how fortunate I am to usually be able to mo
  • Diana Amis
    Diana Amis says #
    First, Thank you so much for this prayer. I have no idea why it resonated so much with me at this time. I want to say I'm not inju
  • Molly
    Molly says #
    Thank you so much for commenting. I'm honored that you chose to do so. May your tender heart be renewed and soothed. Many blessin

Posted by on in SageWoman Blogs

May I soften
my heart
and then soften

b2ap3_thumbnail_54206190_2285105858368290_6049333235937181696_o.jpgagain
and
again. 

May I remember how
to breathe deeply
and expand.

There is something
within
crying out
to be excavated
turned over
revealed
rebirthed
and nourished.

May I listen. 

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Posted by on in SageWoman Blogs

What if you were to sit b2ap3_thumbnail_36752977_2120823658129845_8131110730486251520_o.jpg
by the river of your own life
observing the current
watching the flow,
sensing the depth,
feeling the rhythm,
and not needing
to tell about it,
but instead taking
a long, replenishing
drink.

I’m getting ready to take some time off from classwork and public content generation and planning a bit of a social media hiatus as well as to focus on my piling up book projects. And, our annual Cauldron Month is rapidly approaching. One of my own guideposts of life is Mary Oliver’s Instructions for Living a Life:

...
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Posted by on in SageWoman Blogs

This morning
I laid on my back on the rocks

stuck my legs straight up in the air
and then spread them open to the sky.

I brought my knees into my chest
and laid there on the stone b2ap3_thumbnail_34561828_2094922720719939_6452653518552563712_o.jpg
like a stranded beetle for a while
thinking.

I had the sensation
that I was waiting for something,
some insight or
inspiration or
magical something
to happen,
and had a vague feeling
of disappointment
in such a “normal day”
with no special lesson
or encounter.

But, then I heard a small voice
from within say:

“well, you got your spirit back,
so there’s that.”

And, I decided that was enough.

On my way back to the house,
there was a snail on a leaf. 

...
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