Thank you Todd. Being a native of Virginia, I am quite familair with Kudzu and its takeover of interstate highways! I like the questions you pose, and this wonderful phrase "the kudzu of the cosmos." That is classic!
A perfect example of unintended consequences! It grows like, well, a weed! There was a cartoon strip once called Kudzu. It did not seem as persistent as the actual rambling vine!
This is so touching and heartfelt, Rachel. I like how you take the feeling of not enough and bring it to the simple and powerful acts of love you are living each day. 🙏🏻
This is wonderful Grace. I like the way you set forth instances where care in not taken with settings and situations where it is. With poems like yours, care will be within reach.
Love this Larry! Very endearing. Appreciated your prayer like blessings of taking care. Take care Larry, may you be greeted by beauty in every encounter.
What a beautiful and lovely poem on this Mother’s Day. I like the way you connect three generations and the true hope that the connection will continue. Thank you for sharing this!
This is truly beautiful, Janine. What a perfect love letter in poem form. Each line has a lyric beauty that builds on the one preceding it, and Illuminates the one following. I really love your description of this loving poem as a care package. Indeed! 🧡
I really do have a practice that I call sending the sky, where I speak my gratitude and wishes and love to the sky, knowing that sky will be over my loved ones later. That was my inspiration, as this is one of the ways I care for those who aren’t local.
I took a book
from my shelf
and I laid it
next to my bed
so when I wake,
I can open its pages
before anything
else is done or said,
so I can breathe
in the words
that someone wrote
with care,
and be greeted
with gentleness
as birdsong meets
morning air.
This is so beautiful 😍
What a wonderful idea!
May we all 'be greeted with gentleness' 💜
this grabbed and held my attention. Well done, A. Wilder Westgate!
This is lovely, A. What a kind, caring and gentle wish for yourself and others. These last lines brighten my heart:
"...so I can breathe
in the words
that someone wrote
with care,
and be greeted
with gentleness
as birdsong meets
morning air."
What beautiful poetry, what a compassionate wish. Please take care.
We say, "Take care,"
As if care can be grabbed from a hook by the door
Like a key.
Wherever you go,
Take care with you.
You won't get far without it.
This is so sweet, I love it
Thank you Lisa. Sweet, as A. says, and beautiful!
'Sacred reciprocity' - thank you Kaitlin 💜
Sometimes
I don't care
For how much
I care.
But then
I recall -
It's part of
Who
And why
And what
I am
Sent here
To be.
And that helps.
Especially
If I remember
To take care
Of me.
Yeah. Nice.
Cant be all one way. the tank will dry up.
This is beautiful, Sarah! My sense is you are a beloved care-giver!
Kudzu
What if we realized
that boundaries, borders,
societies, cultures,
economies, nationalities, and war
are all (hu)man-made hooey,
designed to stroke our
individual and collective egos,
and turn humanity into
an invasive species?
What if we examined the world around us,
realized and recognized
how all creation’s existence,
survival, and even our mutual thrival
is interdependent;
that each element of the universe
is but a thread in a grand tapestry
that is beyond our comprehension?
Would that make us
more aware of our need
to care for
and support one another,
and less inclined to become
the kudzu of the cosmos?
I sure hope so!
If not, maybe
we need to start over.
I agree! Let's care instead of becoming the kudzu of the cosmos.
Thank you Todd. Being a native of Virginia, I am quite familair with Kudzu and its takeover of interstate highways! I like the questions you pose, and this wonderful phrase "the kudzu of the cosmos." That is classic!
Thanks for defining Kudzu for me Larry. I tried to look it up, but got Asian vine.This makes more sense.
A perfect example of unintended consequences! It grows like, well, a weed! There was a cartoon strip once called Kudzu. It did not seem as persistent as the actual rambling vine!
Thank you, Larry. That phrase came to me recently, while reading *The Hidden Life of Trees.*
Great book!
Hopefully we can a avoid complete transformation into a invasive species Todd 🤦🏻♀️ Beautiful words 💜
Kaitlin I loved the simplicity of your poem today. Short and sweet.. Here is mine...
.
When my heart is activated
caring is a natural response.
Moving outward with my mind
it tends towards
agenda and expectation
fixing and enabling.
Dropping into my heart
is an inward motion.
Care naturally flows to the need.
Dropping into my heart - thank you for the reminder Julie.
It "flows to the need" 🙂
don't try to steer it.
Very nice, Julie. "Care naturally flows to the need." Like a river flowing towards its destinaation. Thank you!
There are days when I feel like
I am not enough
For myself, my family, my responsibilities
For this world
Where need seems to grow exponentially
By the minute
And the capacity for any of us
To see the other’s humanity
To see the earth as our shared home
To care
Feels like another finite resource
Of which there will never be enough
At the end of those days
When I feel like I am not enough
I tuck my daughters in at night
I tell them I love them
And they tell me the same
We wish each other a good night sleep
And in that moment I remember
Or part of me remembers that
Moments are all we have
There is more in me to give
Or there will be the next day
And in that moment there is enough.
*Moments are all we have… And in that moment there is enough*
Yes!
This is so touching and heartfelt, Rachel. I like how you take the feeling of not enough and bring it to the simple and powerful acts of love you are living each day. 🙏🏻
Dare to Care
Even when you’re not all there
Love is at your Center
Ye needn’t be afraid to enter
Take a look Inside
Where a wellspring of truth resides
And then take Care of you from there
A Love of Self, needn’t be rare
Nice work Jimmy! Love ❤️ is truly at the center!
I see videos
of rescued
cats and dogs
tenderly nursed back
from the brink of death
often being taught
how to play and
be careful for
what a beautiful
sight to behold
why can't we care
for each other's
brokenness
the same way?
Yeah, why can't we?????
Well done steven
Yep!
Great question, Steven. And with poets like you, we can. It is nice to read your poetry again.
Beyond the questions of
what is good
and how can we ever
be good enough
-
Beyond the crush of
war and the way
we take and take
from each other
-
Beyond somewhere
perhaps here
perhaps not
-
is the sun warming
your cold toes
in the morning
-
is the Earth birthing
yet another bloom
despite everything
-
is the look from a
stranger that says
I see you
-
is the food passing
between hands
at a kitchen table
-
is the care that
so often feels just
out of reach
This is wonderful Grace. I like the way you set forth instances where care in not taken with settings and situations where it is. With poems like yours, care will be within reach.
C A R E
Domination and ownership cannot ever compare
To the true, *real* power which is found in care
So sweet and clever, Ange!
A shawl knitted by a stranger
A wooden cross whittled by a stranger
These two objects
became my rod and staff
as I began a quest for
answers.
I had been weak,
struggling to climb stairs
to do laundry
struggling to stand long enough
to wash my hair.
As I
-advocated
-assessed
-asked
for care
I was unprepared
for the courage
needed to
TAKE UP SPACE
in the space
my
being
takes
up.
This is very powerful, Sarah, so real, honest and moving!
Thank you, Larry. Health is a continuing journey!
Kaitlin, I love the simple and gentle beauty of your poem. Here's one for the table.
Care
^
Take care.
Take good care,
I write in my emails and notes,
as I am saying goodbye,
or visiting someone in struggle
Take care. Please take care.
^
In our society of chaos and confusion
small, heartfelt words become clichés,
symbols to contrived friendliness,
filler words when there is nothing else to say.
But I mean these words.
Sometimes they are all I know to offer.
^
Take care as if your heart was the most precious particle on earth.
Take care as if the world will be crushed by any harm done to you.
Take care because you are beautiful and beloved.
Take care like there is only this moment erupting in joy.
Take care because the peace in you deepens the hope in me.
Take care because I love you and you are a blessing.
^
Take care. Take good care.
Love this, especially “Take care as if your heart was the most precious particle on earth.” Amen.
Thank you Rachel.
‘Take care because the peace in you deepens the hope in me.’
Beautiful - all of it 🤩
Thank you Ange!
Love this Larry! Very endearing. Appreciated your prayer like blessings of taking care. Take care Larry, may you be greeted by beauty in every encounter.
Thank you Julie! I wish the same for you!
Two tiny words hold such blessings!
Amen, Larry
"Take care as if your heart was the most precious particle on earth" is one of the kindest, most beautiful things I've ever read.
That’s such a nice and kind thing to say. Take care, friend.
Shalom, Steven.
Her word work folder is on its last legs
The tattered binding threatening to give
At any moment, and when it does -
Tears, for sure
But I have the power to give it new life
For these last six weeks of school
And so I become a surgeon at my table
Packing tape and red scissors my tools
The orange folder is sturdy again
And in her bag for tomorrow
As I work, I know
She likely won't even notice
Me fixing What Could Have Been
Yet I know my mission -
To set them up for success,
Rarly and as often as I can
The way my mother did for me
To care is what it means to mother
So sweet and so important. And regarding your comment below - I raised two of those spicy ones!
What a beautiful and lovely poem on this Mother’s Day. I like the way you connect three generations and the true hope that the connection will continue. Thank you for sharing this!
Thank you so much, Larry. I have never appreciated my own mother as much as I do now, when I am raising a daughter as stubborn and spicy as her mama
I hear you here, Katie! Enjoy the journey.
I care.
So much that it hurts sometimes.
I care about the kids who were playing
in a Ukrainian park when the bombs fell.
I care about the Palestinians living in shelters
without enough food or medicine.
I care about child soldiers,
about environmental pollution,
over-logging, over-fishing,
under-funding.
I care about food deserts and
the school-to-prison pipeline.
I care about racism:
overt, subtle and systemic.
I care about the lack of care.
I care so much.
Do I care more than God?
What I know:
I would stop it all if I could.
A-fucking-men.
I second that emotion.
I spoke my love for you
Into the sky today
And sent it on its way,
A care package
Being wrapped in starlight
And delivered overnight
To sit by your bedside
As you rest and dream.
In the morning
unwrap it carefully.
Inside, tucked between
Soft layers of Peace
To protect its fragility,
You will find… Hope.
Enough to get you through.
I love you.
This is truly beautiful, Janine. What a perfect love letter in poem form. Each line has a lyric beauty that builds on the one preceding it, and Illuminates the one following. I really love your description of this loving poem as a care package. Indeed! 🧡
Thank you, Larry 🙏
I really do have a practice that I call sending the sky, where I speak my gratitude and wishes and love to the sky, knowing that sky will be over my loved ones later. That was my inspiration, as this is one of the ways I care for those who aren’t local.
That is lovely Janine!
This is a very beautiful practice, Janine. Thank yiu for sharing it.
❤️💔❤️❣️
It's helter-skelter
To mislay your give-a-shit
and you don't know where.
Good one!