75 Comments

Motherly Wisdom

There is little

that cannot be

mended in

kitchen chairs

and teapots.

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My new favourite, for what it is worth.

In part, because my body remembers the truth of it, my heart strings singing.

I could elaborate if there were a place to sit with a hot beverage and some good company.

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This response is as melodious as the original poem. Love this, Bob :)

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Yes! Spoken truth from a mother of wisdom!

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Yes!! So so lovely :) That's so simple and pure wisdom right there <3

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I’m really grateful for this space that you’ve created Kaitlin, to connect through our words, ideas, art in community. My heart is longing to find ways to continue beyond this month of May, thank you for this gift.

Wisdom is a sense

attuned to

ethereal spaces

in-between, beneath

liminal, radical

Wisdom is penetrating

invisible energy

buried roots

intangible feelings

sounds of silence

Wisdom is a window

into hidden nature

insight, intuition

into what really

matters

Wisdom is serenity

filtered, unclouded

knowing, innate

born into

nature

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I too have noticed this longing to continue! There’s been something sacred about this poetry practice. It’s met my soul in a way I didn’t know I needed.

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Yes! After seeing a few comments from folks, I think many of us may share that sentiment! Haha, this was just too good!! I so feel you!

I've actually been so moved by the month that I've decided to host my own 21 poem-a-day retreat starting June 1st (so as not to miss even one day! ;D) on my Substack. If that resonates with you, you're so welcome to join several of us from this group there <3

I also know of at least one other person who was actively planning something similar, so what I'd honestly love to see is several of us take the reins and offer such a space on our respective platforms in a long-term consecutive fashion ;)

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Oh I love this poem Sarah! Your wisdom is remarkable! I especially love these lines:

"Wisdom is a window

into hidden nature

insight, intuition

into what really

matters."

How beauitfully profound and piercing. Thank you!

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Wow, I really love this poem, Sarah! Indeed, your perception is remarkable and I'm glad to read your luminous words - they help me unravel many of the complexities I was feeling (surprisingly) about today's prompt.

I, too, feel your longing to continue, but for this, have created my own space to share a daily practice with others! ;) You're so welcome to take part - I would love to see your wisdom shared there.

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Wisdom

Does wisdom come with age,

Like wool gathered through the years?

Does wisdom come with heartache,

Grown in the heart's soil and watered with tears?

Does wisdom come from God,

Given only to those who pray?

Or does wisdom come to anyone,

Who can listen, and learn, and then give it away?

Karri Temple Brackett

May 27, 2023

https://themarvelousandthemundane.com/2023/05/27/wisdom-2/

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Yea, use it ot lose it.

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This is beautiful, Karri! I think you touch something very important here too - "giving it away." There is a significance to exchange in/for/through wisdom. I'm glad you specifically said that :) Thank you!

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I fling open my soul to the mysteries of the world

Open the shutters to the vast expanse of the universe

Let the light stream on in

Illuminating

Everything

I throw away certainty and rightness and crack myself wide

Like a hatching bird

Not yet ready to fly

I am like a tree, rooted

I am like a leaf, falling

This is where wisdom lives,

In surrender

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Yes, the innocence and simplicity. Wisdom arrives!

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This is stunningly beautiful, Alexandra! A megnificient work of art and heart. I love each and every word!

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Thank you Larry! I am a slightly insecure poet, so your encouragement means a lot.

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I hear you Alexandra! I think we all are a biti insecure about our poems. I certainly am. It takes incredible courage and vulnerability to post your poems for all to see and read. I am very glad you have shared your wonderful poems this month! Thank you!

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I hear you too, Alexandra :) If I can hop in here too, I just want to tell you specifically at this moment that you truly have a magic touch in your poetry. I honor the challenges of the insecurities, but also, thank you for writing these beautiful words anyways :)

Love following you!

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Oh wow, thank you Jillian. Before this month I wrote prose much more than poetry, and your encouraging words are so meaningful to me. Thank you! 🥺

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I love this, Alexandra! It encapsulates so much of what I’m learning these days. Thank you!

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Thank you! I’m so glad it resonates with you 🤍

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Wow, I really love this one, Alexandra. As our friends have said already, this is stunning!

WOW, I really love the way you lead us with wisdom as a window. "Flinging open my soul" and "shutters" just really hit the spot! I see and honor you so much in your journey <3

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Wisdom doesn’t ask it simply reveals

Itself to those who dare to feel the feels

Wisdom comes in the tiniest of ways

The land, the flowers the streams, the bays

Don’t look for it outside the natural spaces

For tender wisdom will be found in other places

Rather, seek it in our Land and in your Heart

Find it within your own Poetry and your own Art

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Ooooh I love this!

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This is very nice, Jimmy! I like the rhymes and this phrase:

"Don’t look for it outside the natural spaces

For tender wisdom will be found in other places

Rather, seek it in our Land and in your Heart"

Very sweet!

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I love this one, Jimmy. To feeling the feels!

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I love this, Jimmy. Especially:

"Don’t look for it outside the natural spaces

For tender wisdom will be found in other places

Rather, seek it in our Land and in your Heart

Find it within your own Poetry and your own Art"

Thanks for this - so soft and tender and pure <3

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Wisdom is not something that is granted or conquered

nor about how many years one has lived

Forged with every conscious and intentional step

it’s through living an examined life

Within the battle worn, frayed

frenzied storms of living

Inside the sweet tender moments

where vulnerability opens like an unfurling fern

Present with our ever-changing emotional waters

as their fluidity ebbs and flows

Being willing to fall down, to get up

and to repeat this again and again

Not just by surviving or existing but

contemplating each encounter

releasing judgments and preferences

fully meeting life as it is

Letting the deeper understandings

arise, bubbling up from our cavernous belly

To simply wander, to wonder

as a rewilding, untaming, returning home

For this greater mystery cannot ever be solved

And right there…is quiet…joy!

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This is very nice work, Julie. You bring me along so lyrically and creatively, and the last line soars: "And right tere...is quiet...joy! " Oh yes. Beauitfully said!

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Wow, Julie, this is masterful. You truly write in your wisdom here. So much I love about it <3

"cavernous belly," "rewilding" - awesome!

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Like the porno judge claiming

he knows it when he sees it,

I know it when I hear it.

and I will try to give it

the silent native chew it surely deserves.

Wisdom sharpens wisdom.

Anything else is just owls.

or a quartet of teeth.

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“Silent native chew” is my favorite part 😊

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A nod to the indigenous way of debate

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You’ve done it justice for sure 😊

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Oh YES, Chuck! Thank you so much for this! On multiple levels, thank you. You really captured what I was feeling today in such a clear, eloquent, and (true to your style) real way. This brings me joy and also relief in so many ways. Wonderful :)

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Wisdom is a gift from my grandmothers as I become more like them each year.

Wisdom is listening to my sons who are young and wise, too.

Wisdom is right here between young and old- neither and both, wise and new.

Wisdom is ageless.

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Neither and both. yup.

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YES! This is so beautiful, Danis :) Really glad to see your shares each day now - you have such a gift, and incredible wisdom.

I'm glad you brought this component of the wisdom conversation - age. Indeed, it is ageless :)

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I've been called

wise beyond my years

more than once,

but the older I get,

the less I believe that

wisdom comes from age.

After all, what could be wiser

than a child instinctively

digging their hands into the earth,

splashing in the water,

laughing when they are happy,

crying when they are sad,

eating when they are hungry,

stopping when they are full,

moving when they are restless,

resting when they are tired,

reaching out when they need comfort,

stomping their feet at injustice,

and deciding everyone they see

should be their friend?

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WOW. WOW :) I don't want to say anything else. This is a TRIUMPH, A. Might be one of my top two from you yet <3

There is so much wisdom here, and so much medicine I'm grateful to receive right now. Thank you so much, this is wonderful :)

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Thank you, Jillian! I immediately thought of my kids when I saw the prompt. ❤️

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That’s wonderful 😊 Says a lot and makes me smile.

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Yes!!

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This is marvelous A. How truly wise these words are, and how beautiful to celebrate wisdom as joy, playfulness, letting go into pure delight, and seeing the wisdom in the hearts of children. Yoiu are a wisdom keeper for the ages, blessings to you.

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Thank you so much, Larry!

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Sometimes I feel wise,

Some days I act otherwise,

Ridiculous and impulsive,

Brash and reckless.

Apparently, I am,

Still learning,

To be wise.

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OH, yes! I love this SO much, Liz! So honest, so playful, so introspective. This experience you capture here is VERY wise :) Thank you!

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HI friends. I love today's prompt. I start my offering with words from Proverbs 4:7, from the First Testament, the Wisdom Writings from the Jewish tradiiton.

Wisdom

“The beginning of wisdom is:

Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight.”

The beginning of wisdom and its

Complex and dynamic union with insight.

It has little to do with intellect, SAT, LSAT, GRE or poll numbers.

Wisdom is all about the base, the center, the source.

Get wisdom:

Be present in this precious moment.

Be thoughtful in word, action and response.

Have compassion for your kindreds;

See with your heart as well as your eyes.

Witness to a world that can be,

when all our dreams of harmony coincide.

Be a healer for the nations, your communities, and your home.

Love justice, live kindness, be humble and gentle.

Look behind as well as ahead,

so that none are left behind.

Treat all beings with respect, dignity and peace.

Sustain the earth as if it will continue to be home to humans

For a thousand more centuries.

Shine and show loving kindness to all creatures,

to your beloveds, to your adversaries, and to yourself.

Open the circle wider and wider as we see the beauty in all life

And all our sacred identities.

Open up to the possibility that you are wrong;

Hold gently to beliefs and shed dogma and doctrine.

Treat all life as sacred, and all passings as moments to mourn and grieve.

Continue to tell and hear the stories.

Read these words and let them go.

Hold me in your heart for a little while longer,

And then in heartfelt joy, let me go.

Walk with the power of beauty,

May Love always be your guiding light.

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This is so beautiful, Larry. I love the way you work off this line from Proverbs, and the sheer passionate you have for your kindness and light. Thank you for shining :)

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I love all of this, but "look behind as well as ahead, so that none are left behind" especially spoke to me. Beautiful, Larry.

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I really love this line too :)

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Wisdom

.

The wisest of all

Is taking a step back, not

Twisting up your truth.

.

.

In a time where

People vye hard for the top spot,

Or even where we fight so hard inside

To be our best,

I must be honest with myself,

Take a chill pill and a step back,

And turn to the wisdom

Of the wise who came before me.

.

“No need to take life too seriously” -

It’s a constant creation

And you won’t miss your chance.

There’s goodness left for you,

And you need do nothing for it.

.

“Just listen” -

To your body and your heart.

We created ourselves foolproof,

Keeping the internal navigation systems

Saved up after every trip close

So that we could start this life already found.

.

“Enjoy the damn thing” -

After all the creating, after all of the “work,”

Your world is a gift waiting for your celebration.

If pleasure comes from within,

It’s your responsibility to unlock it for us all.

.

So go for it.

Start the party.

Don’t think about it.

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I wrote two today, because the prompt felt challenging. A lot on my mind and heart with this.

.

Wisdom

At the edge of the spring

At the root of the willow tree

In a bold word

In a quiet word

In leading through love

In a well-placed tender hug

On more than the page

In more than the mind

With age and with youth

With sickness and with health

Total, humble, ineffable

Waiting

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Wow both are so different in the feelings they evoke in me. Another perspective of wisdom unveiled. Poetry is amazing that way.

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It's always such a pleasure to hear that my poems resonate :) Thanks, Julie!

And oh man, for sure. Particularly for this prompt, which was very confrontational for me, I've really enjoyed reading the other poems and getting more pieces and layers decoded from others <3 It is the prism and the mist through which the light of our truth passes, at once steady and fractal :)

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Jillian, both of these poems are remarkable and beautiful. So different, but so true to the beautiful spirit of creativity, creation and wisdom that flows into and from you. You are a true blessing, dear one!

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Thank you so much, Larry! Your words feel like medicine every day, especially today when the journey was so rocky! There was something my system wanted to struggle in today, but your words keep me alive in my creative spirit! <3 Blessings to you, friend.

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I'm so glad you shared both! I love the perspective of each.

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Thanks, A! Briefly considered not doing so... but it was a full bodied journey that needed to come together :) Ever grateful to be seen by you.

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wisdom

is many things

the difference between

knowledge and wisdom

knowledge is knowing

a tomato is a fruit

wisdom is knowing

not to put a tomato in a fruit salad

as if wisdom the

experience of playing with knowledge

there is a spirit of wisdom

that artists possess

from learning and

practicing their craft

there is a wisdom tradition

from scriptures

and holy people

imparting words

gently so

quieted minds

can absorb them

there is a wisdom

that creation knows

and we don't

but sacred texts

show us

if we dare to see

wisdom is more than

being smart

as many

without wisdom

will proclaim too loudly

wisdom is

eternal and yet situational

universal and yet contextual

beyond us and yet within us

but for the latter

we need the courage

to empty ourselves

to be vulnerable

to be silent

so we can notice it

then we need

to be willing

to be wrong

to make mistakes

to experience the uncomfortable

within us and out in the world

so we can gain wisdom

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Very nice Steven. The wisdom traditions and writings are among my favorites in every spkritual tradition. Thank you for sharing your wisdom!

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When I mentioned the prompt to my husband today, he said the same quote about the tomato! You so deftly navigated from that phrase to create such a beautiful poem.

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Wow, this is one of my very favorite of yours, Steven :) This is superb! I also love the way you spin off the thoughts about the tomato! And you really just pack so much wisdom into every word.

The idea of emptying ourselves to show up for wisdom - LOVE! <3 Thank you.

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what good is wisdom

if there is no compassion

together? divine!

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This resonates so deeply. Therapy, lavender plants, gray hair, and stretch marks are all part of my story as well. Thank you for the reminder that it is all wisdom.

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I love this word!!! Sophia, Goddess of wisdom, woman wisdom, source of knowledge and light! Thank you Kaitlin for the wisdom you show in creating this space!

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YES! Sophia :)

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