Category: Poem

For shamans at the edge

NestCity-BlogPostMiles from civilization
I take the world into my arms
I am washed on the wash
laid to bed, disentombed
dreams not parked
release a force
out into the world
a welcome mat
for shamans at the edge
of poetry that saves
lives with questions
evoking the holy mystery
of the soul
a call to open
to my changing heart
to my true
complete
self

_____

A poem caught with my writing friends at Self as Source of the Story, December 1-7, 2015, with Christina Baldwin and Kristie McLean. Continue reading For shamans at the edge

A shifting course

 

A shifting course 
 
A hersterical shifting course
lives in us 
profoundly donating self
to the sponge
of self and other
here for me and you 
to receive
without words
mystical moments
that bless us
with lifted veils
I am 
held
 
thank you 
 
for a home
for my candle
of sacred grace
burning, singing
a delicious legacy
of source energy
that trusts 
in me
and how I sit
in 
 
 
_____ 
A poem caught in the moving check out of The Circle Way Practicum I co-taught last week with Katharine Weinmann, Ann Linnea and Christina Baldwin. October 4, 2015, Strawberry Creek Lodge, Alberta.
_____ 
 
 

Story is sacred food

 

Story is sacred food: this is what community leaders found in Durant, Oklahoma, a small American city, as they embarked on a journey to step more fully into who they truly are, and lean into who they want to be.

As they settled in to their work together, some meeting for the first time, others have the conversation for the first time, a hosting team of Canadians, and Oklahoman and a Californian. We first broke bread together, and after the meal we sat back to listen, from the edge of the circle, to each voice, and the story of what brought us together.

Here’s the essence of our starting point for a journey that will take months and years:

 

Sacred Food
 
Story is
sacred food
a sacred pride
in community
in personal generosity
I’m a live one
serving, giving
the spirit of home
in my heart
to the promise of Durant
to the promise of being here
where I choose to be
to grow
with our family of well-being
standing out
(of our own way)
we are live ones 
embracing the village story
on our shoulders
our sacred food
 
 

What truly nourishes you?

What is your sacred food? 

 

 

Blessing for Katharine

 

The poem/blessing I caught during a wonderful ceremony for a friend who marked the transition to the second half of life: her 60th birthday.

 

Blessing for Katharine
 
I am always
always good enough
with no end
to the infinity
of nurturing I offer
 
I deeply treasure 
the happiness in peace
open to my true nature
healing whole-heartedly
with grace and compassion
 
I am a fairy godmother
alive
with (my) stories
 
 
 

Kosmic playmates

 

My Integral City colleagues and I are offering an unconference within a conference – the coming Integral Theory Conference in San Francisco this summer. Here’s a bit of poem I caught this week when we circled up to work together.

 

A playful invitation 
to kosmic playmates
to close the distance 
to discern the direction
of momentum in place
to co-create a centering space
that nourishes the
flow of relating
at scale
 
 

 

Carrot of potential

 

I have to laugh. The moment I feel I finally have a clear sense of purpose and direction in my work, the universe delivers a tantalizing carrot, enticing me to other work, testing my resolve.

Before this carrot arrived, I called a circle of 14 remarkable people, to begin a dive into an evolutionary purpose I sense we serve for cities: to create the conditions for cities to serve citizens well, and for citizens to serve cities well.

Each of us, in our own ways, are in the throes of discerning the work we are called to do for our city.

Here’s what I caught in our closing words before parting. A carrot of potential…

 

A carrot of potential 
 
A carrot of potential
personally inviting
me to grow
the innovation
in me stretching 
amalgamating
energy in the heart
of the dragon
here, in me
in my city 
emerging 
me
in an ensemble
growing a whole
journey
 
 
_____
 
Nest City - unusual work 1 small
 

Alternative prosperity

 

The words “alternative prosperity” are alive in me today. As I’m contemplating the work that I want to be doing in the coming year, it is about so much more than money – the usual form of measuring prosperity. What about all the other things?

What about the time I get to play with my family?

What about the time I get to flop around in bed, read a book, play in the snow, ride my bike?

What about the charge in my soul when I get spend time with fabulous people and we do great work together?

What about the great pioneering feeling I have when I understand something for the first time, and it fills me with joy?

What about the thrill of being paid to be me?

What about the feeling after an intense three day meeting, when I leave with more energy than I had when I arrived? The words I caught in our closing check-out circle were wise:

 

Alternative prosperity
 
Welcome in 
the layers
of a rippling universe
of blessings
in a fire
bursting
nursing
what’s to come
caring to ride
the alternative
prosperity
that accelerates
magic vows
healing
joy
welcoming
the layers 
of a rippling 
universe
 
 
_____

A poem caught in the closing circle of fantastic business meeting last week. Wow.

 

 

Stretch and fold

 

The work we have to do together is to be ourselves. This is what my local community of practice realized this fall, when we took some time to settle into the purpose of why we make the effort to meet each month. Here’s what our circle had to say to us:

 

Stretch and fold
 
A spiritual shower
of inspiration and energy
falling 
in rest and replenishment
of the soul
 
a pause
 
where our only responsibility 
is to stretch and fold
the agency of community
the currency of relationship
to host
wholehearted
wholeness

 

 

Unguardedness

 

A change in perspective

retires one

for another

perhaps unknown

a journey of surprise

deliberate or not

either way it calls

for unguardedness

to allow

shadow to light

to allow

flow and movement

for which I can

(not) prepare

 

_____

A poem caught while spending time with my community of practice last night.

 

Weaving a basket of generosity

 

Weaving a basket of generosity

in which we waken

to promise

to harmony

of no harm

 

_____

A poem caught while meeting with colleagues as we support a city embarking on a visioning process for a city and a surrounding First Nation. The above is the work we are sensing into.