#iArtDaily Challenge Day 17 Last August I pulled a couple of stray milkweed plants growing in a crack between cement blocks that form the patio, and threw them on a pile of brush to compost. A few days later I noticed these two Monarch caterpillars munching away on the cracked-open pods. Today's prompt is: “You …
What brings you joy!
#iArtDaily Challenge Day 16 Today’s prompt is this: “I am paying more attention to what brings me joy.” ~ Karen Smith Krueger, Photographer The days pass so quickly. Daybreak, a full schedule too often performed automatically -- and missing the sweet details in the moment, nightfall ... and then another day gone. Watching these two …
Dark Night of the Soul
And one night — if it was night at all — she dreamed she was back at the beginning, where it all started. She saw the threads leading to other choices that, in that the moment, hadn’t been apparent to her. In the dream she saw not only what else she might have done, she …
From Zeigler’s haiku
1. On a mid-August evening after sundown, the common weeds edging the yard become a haven for fairies. The darker the sky gets, the more the fairies flit in and out of tall milkweed, field bindweed, pig weed and scrub trees. The fairies dance among the stalks and leaves to the crickets’ song, alighting sometimes …
I’m Going to Start Living Like a Mystic
Jennifer Louden read this poem today in her Friday audio in the Writer's Oasis. It's glorious, and mesmerizing, and I share it here for all and to remember it myself. I'm Going to Start Living Like a Mystic By Edward Hirsch, 1950 Today I am pulling on a green wool sweater and walking across the …
I have writer’s block, and please don’t tell me I don’t.
This morning I awoke early, before dawn, and couldn't go back to sleep. I feel like I am going to explode ... and can't grasp relief. Relief comes from writing, and it's not there. I've read plenty lately that says writer's block is a myth. It's really laziness. Or lack of motivation. Or fear. An …
Continue reading "I have writer’s block, and please don’t tell me I don’t."
Secluded
Silence is preferred but not necessary. Even in a crowd, wall-to-wall bodies roiling, Channeling Zen, mindful inner peace Lets one choose seclusion, solitude. Unless one in the swarm punctures the bubble of Stillness with an errant touch or word, shattering Intentions to be locked inside oneself, like a diving bell Open now to the chaos …
Conversation with a willow tree
It was mid-July when the willow tree decided to speak. She bent down, her long tresses sweeping along the earth beneath us. “Daughter,” she began. Her low voice carried on the wind. “You don’t want to believe, but you hear me, do you not? “This is the lesson I hold for you: Be flexible. See …
10 years (and counting) of writing together
In October our writing group, the Mid-Michigan Word Gatherers, will celebrate 10 years of meeting on Thursday mornings. We've come together to write every week except Thanksgiving, and Christmas/New Year's if those holidays happened to fall on a Thursday. The MMWG began at the Lyons Township District Library, where Vicki Reinhardt, the group's cofounder with …
Continue reading "10 years (and counting) of writing together"
‘Use the voice you’ve got right now’
I've been thinking all week about this bit of wisdom from Jennifer Louden. I follow Jen at The Writer's Oasis, where she provides writers and creatives of all sorts with inspiration and encouragement to keep going, to make creativity -- and ourselves -- a priority, and to believe that, no matter what, we are enough. …
YSM | ink 