Poetry

To walk quietly till the miracle in everything speaks is poetry.
-Mark Nepo

My life is a poem and I, the poet.

I have written poetry most of my adult life. It has been a way to express my deepest feelings, whether they are happy, sad, or loving. A poem is my way of wrapping my feelings up in a nice little rhyming package. I feel that once I have expressed my thoughts so poetically, then I have given them the proper honoring and I can move on to my next experience which will someday to be written about in verse and rhyme. I don’t know if I’m a good poet according to the literary world, but that isn’t a concern for me. I just like to express my feelings and thoughts in a way that creates a harmonic flow while expressing a deep emotion. Emotions can sometimes be messy, but when expressed in a poem they become beautiful, no matter how messy the subject might be.

I don’t just write my poems, I also create them in various artistic ways, like the way I decorate my home, my dining room table, the special cakes that I bake, or the way I plan a party. It’s all the same to me. My goal is to create balance, a beautiful rhythmic balance that can then create peaceful reflection or a spark of inspiration for anyone who experiences one of my visual poems.

My dining table is a constantly changing poem. I decorate my table according to the seasons or any special event that will be happening soon. My husband knows when the seasons change because he wakes up to a newly decorated fall, winter, or spring table with each centerpiece setting the mood for the season. And, each dinner I create for friends has it’s own specifically decorated theme. I have eight different sets of plates that I choose from to set the mood for each dinner. And, each specifically chosen flower, napkin, or candle reflects the emotions I want to convey. I want each guest to relax, have fun, and be inspired by the food they are being offered, so the table that night becomes my next poem.

Write one poem, grow one flower. Bring something of beauty
into the world, and become more beautiful by the act.
-William Stanley Merwin

My backyard has become my outdoor poem. Each flower pot, each hanging object in my trees is strategically placed to create balance. My little Buddha statue, the bird bath, all represent my expressed love for nature. This outdoor collection of lights, flowers, and statues has become one of my favorite daily poems as I sit outside to read or watch the birds play.

I see poetry everywhere, especially in nature. The way a gigantic rock can fall onto a pile of smaller rocks and remain perfectly balanced for decades is a spontaneous poem created in the most dramatic way. Watching a small child learning to ride a bike, or watching a bird playfully gliding across a summer sky, being silenced by a star filled night, or smelling a freshly baked cake, it’s all poetry to me; the coming together of selected elements to create a statement meant to grab your emotions and make you feel alive. It does grab me and I do feel alive!

Have you been grabbed by any good poems lately? Take a look around and see how many you can find today. If you could see life as one big love poem, wouldn’t life just seem to make more sense?

My pictures can show you some of my environmental poems, but I’m also sharing one of my written poems with you that I wrote for my husband on our tenth anniversary when we renewed our wedding vows.  I love this poem because it expresses how my heart truly feels about my love for him. It’s simple, but to me all good poems are.

My Love
I cannot know why I love you,
Only my heart can know.
My head has a list of reasons
That would take hours to unfold.
My heart silently watches
My head pontificate,
Knowing that the eternal
Has all the time to wait.
And after my head has spoken
And time has slipped away,
My heart quietly whispers
The depth of it’s embrace.

We are all poets and each consciously created moment can so easily become our next poem, if we choose to see it that way. So, go arrange your table, your words, the flowers in your garden, or the food for your next meal and let them be your next great, heart inspired, beauty revealing, soul balancing poem.