Poetry
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Unexpected joy
“Joy is not made to be a crumb.” ~Mary Oliver Joy is a feel-good hormone. It inspires you to be more generous, more loving. But its unbridled positivity runs on short supply if you’re always mired in the habit of negative thinking. Worst of all, dark energy is both pervasive and contagious. Mary Oliver’s poetry always resonates. And when a dear friend shared “Don’t Hesitate” with me, the word “joy” jumped off the screen. It was exactly what I needed to read, and I hope it speaks to you, too. ~CL Don’t Hesitate If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of…
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“Sweet Darkness”
“You must learn one thing. The world was made to be free in.” — David Whyte Many of you told me how much you enjoyed the post featuring Mary Oliver’s “Invitation” this week — so I’ll continue our celebration of National Poetry Month with an old favorite. Sometimes the right poem can work its magic immediately. And sometimes it depends on what you’re going through at the time you read it. David Whyte’s “Sweet Darkness” is one such poem for me. Revisiting it today, I am struck this time by the sheer power of its last three lines. This heart-stopping poem reminds us that loneliness could be an invitation to…
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An invitation
“A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom.” ~Robert Frost April is National Poetry Month — and I can’t let another day pass without celebrating it. While I’ve featured some of my favorite poetry here in the past, today I wanted to share a poem that’s new to me. Sometimes, when I need inspiration, I’ll pull a poetry collection from the shelf and open it randomly to a page. Then I read the poem two or three times to fully experience it. Today, I turned to Mary Oliver’s 456-page Devotions anthology, letting the book fall open where it would. Here’s the beautiful poem I found … Invitation By Mary…
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Following your inner compass: “The Journey”
“And there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own.” — Mary Oliver The greatest gift of maturing is finding your own power and discovering who you are meant to be — not what others think you should be or want you to be. But the road to authenticity isn’t without obstacles. Mary Oliver’s “The Journey” gives us a new map. It’s one of my all-time favorite poems and has become a personal anthem. A great poem reminds us that the personal is universal, and this one brings shivers of recognition each time I read it aloud in my writing workshops. –CL THE JOURNEYBy Mary Oliver One…
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Finding our way back home
“This is the bright home in which I live, this is where I ask my friends to come.” ~David Whyte “Home” is a small but expansive word. What does it really mean to make a home, to feel at home, or to be at home with oneself? At the same time, the buildings we call home reflect who we are, which is why inviting people inside our homes is an intimate gesture that extends beyond basic hospitality. My mother had a gift for creating beautiful homes, and I inherited her appreciation of the domestic arts. In a nursing facility near the end of her life, she was confined to a wheelchair and talked constantly…
