AT THE END OF THE YEAR — John O’Donohue The particular mind of the ocean Filling the coastline’s longing With such brief harvest Of elegant, vanishing waves Is like the mind of time Opening us shapes of days. As this year draws to its end, We give thanks for the gifts it brought And how …
Let us all be ASTONISHED, friends! “Messenger” (sort of) by Mary Oliver My work is loving the world.Here the ferns, there the downy—equal seekers of sweetness.Here the turtle deep in the speckled sand; there the service berries.Here the leaves lining my pathway into the day. Is my helmet old? Are my shoes worn?Am I no longer …
As happens on pilgrimage, life reveals things both beautiful, AND burdensome. Pilgrimage affords one opportunities to feel both energized and enervated. Mark Nepo, in his usual provocative poetry, seizes on this notion, in “Adrift.” And, as I pedal across southern Michigan with this poem in my back pocket, I am feeling and experiencing it all, pedaling with the …
To Mom My mother, Helen, died over two weeks ago. And, by the time this entry posts, it will be my birthday, my first birthday without her. I began sitting with Ross Gay’s poetry a few days ago, and as my cycling season begins–a little late this year–I will begin it with this poem in …
Brightly gleaming ice falls liningthe cliffs on this morning’s ride.Glistening, fresh, freezing wind whipping.I am alive. I am alive. I am alive! Invigorated and absorbed,Seven doesn’t skip a stroke,we move mightily and meticulouslyas the road continues to slope. Upward we ramble,twisting tenaciously through the trees,hearing ice crack, frozen bubbles bang,as the forest frostily breathes. I …