A Lesson in Plate Tectonics The
plates shift, soundless, underground the
heavens. Up on Highlands sky opens overnight. Thin veneer of yesterday’s the
light and bask in its brilliance, Nothing
permanent, says the sky. The land
lies. The
canyon spreads, hills rolling but unmoved. Invisible,
the slow moving movements whose
face changes with every breath of wind No,
earth moves in increments unremarkable ground
gives; life rides the swells of a world
Daily chemical darkness in a sunlit chapel. as radiations conquer fear, sound rises. so many gold cufflinks. so many perfectly combed manes. is that really what this is all about? I sit restraining my incessant nature, inky black tail of the page wagging, staring at the flag. what does death have to do with patriotism? what is death? what is black to be so hastily denied? how can a color bring such sorrow, such retaliation, yet such irresistible emotion? Kali is in the air. – Chloe Levine (Age 10)
Forever forever now and always worn sneakers will have love beneath their feet. forever now and always those that have been touched by her will be within her and she will flourish in wherever infinity may take her. forever now and always Gabriella - we are there Marg - we are there Kali - we know you are with us you are in the very air we breathe forever. – Chloe Levine (Age 10)
If You Come Softly If you come as softly If you come as lightly You may sit beside me And if you come I will be silent We shall sit here, softly – Audre Lorde
The seed:
turns green
cracks open
revealing a rising stem
winding its way towards
the forest above:
of trees
all growing
out of the earth
out of other trees
who have passed.
Strong as she is:
she may not break
the surface of
earth, from which she is created
Yet she becomes
earth now
for the creation and growth
of all other seeds
– Tyler Lurie-Spicer
Love came, and became like blood in my body. It rushed through my veins and encircled my heart. Everywhere I looked, I saw one thing. Love's name written on my limbs, on my left palm, on my forehead, on the back of my neck, on my right big toe… Oh, my friend, all that you see of me is just a shell, and the rest belongs to love. – Rumi
Search the Darkness
Sit with your friends; don’t go back to sleep. Surge like an ocean, Life’s waters flow from darkness. Night travelers are full of light, Be a wakeful candle in a golden dish, The moon appears for night travelers, – Rumi
Precious Core The core of every fruit is better than its rind: The clear bead at the center changes everything. The spiritual path wrecks the body
– Rumi
Why Cling Why cling to one life The sun dies and dies God has decreed life for you
– Rumi
A Prayer for Kali October 29, 2011 Oh Kali, I wish I knew you a different way but am blessed to know you all the same. We come here today to commemorate you and your name. Eternal energy, time and change. We wish we knew you a different way but are blessed to know you just the same. We share in your parents' grief and the inversion of our hopes From belief to grief and the support we need to continue the cycle. We know too well the interconnectedness between birth and death, creation and destruction, Will you help us face the harsh reality of our mortality as part of the celebration of life? We come today to call on you, to be with you, and to be together as we seek sense in the loss, continually replacing and readjusting the pieces, Like a sand mandala, we collectively weave and destroy, only to seek rebuilding again. A prayer for Kali, for Gabriella and for Marg – may her memory be for a blessing. And so it is.
Echinacea, bee balm, aster. Trumpetvine
I watch your mother bend to prune, water
sluicing silver from the hose—
another morning
you will never see. Summer solstice: dragonflies flare
the unpetaled rose. 6 a.m.
& already
she's breaking down, hose flung to the sidewalk
where it snakes & pulses in a steady
keening glitter, both hands to her face. That much
I can give you of these hours.
That much only.
Fist & blossom forged by salt, trellising
your wounded helixes against our days,
tell us how to live
for we are shades, facing
caged the chastening sun. Our eyes
are scorched & lidless. We cannot bear your light.
– David Wojahn
The world may never notice But every life that ever forms, The little one we longed for And though our arms are empty, – Anonymous
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