Before I even opened my laptop I was making coffee and feeding my dog and thinking these thoughts (though much less eloquently than you have here) about the release I am in the midst of myself. It seems to be a theme in healing ... go figure. And thank you. This was a gift to me this morning. Peace and good to you and yours.
How timely! This fall I finished my book and embraced taking the intimidating step of writing a book proposal. I sent out four queries to agents yesterday and went to sleep to a guided meditation about releasing. I’ve released the outcome to the Lord. And I’ll keep releasing it over and over, I’m sure! Your post is such encouraging confirmation this morning. Thank you!
"To love well/is to unfurl the fist bit by bit/and let my palm breathe in the open air." and these: "But perhaps we clench our fists because/life is so beautiful/nd there is so much to lose." These are some of the most wonderful lines I have ever read. I love your poetry, :Lisa!
These are staying rght close to my heart. And from the intro:
"We go inward so that we can hold space and love and assess who we are and where we are headed. That’s what wintering allows us to do. But in order to get there, we’ve got to release.
What are you releasing?"
Oh my, I have vans full of things to release!
This remindss of me Joy Harjo's poem "I GIve you Back." Then again you are two of my very favorite writers and inpiring wisdom keepers in this world!
Tranquility is what we seek in a world one can hardly call tranquil,
Truly, the very best we can do is live our lives as purely as our human selves may, today, tomorrow and always,
Despite the malignancy of modern life which devalues the human spirit and channels each of us into lives of nothing more than chattel,
Working, spending, paying, buying, purchasing to the detriment of not just ourselves but our world, our planet, our home, our global community,
Reacting to the banality modern life has to offer in its various forms, in all its manifestations of absurdity which relentlessly pursues the burying of our understanding of what and who we as individuals are,
Until one day, tired and exhausted, haggard because of worldly hazard, we fall to our knees and pray-pleading to Almighty God, thanking Him for the gift of His most holy son Jesus Christ and the sanctified forgiveness of our sins and those of our fathers to release us from Satan’s grip for eternity. Hvp
Release
“For everything there is a season, and a time …” (Ecclesiastes 3)
And some things may not yet be ripe for plucking up –-
Or maybe it’s where they land.
Maybe anger, dread, and sadness are still in season.
But can I realign their targets?
Can I lighten their life-sapping power,
And build up their capacity to heal?
To build up and not tear down.
To gather and not throw away.
To move toward the time for dancing.
I’m loving te practice of reading all the poems and thoughts either coffee. Thank you all!
Rolling
Energy
Learns
A
Safe
Escape
This is splendid, Kate!
Advent Day 20:
Your revolution, a dance of days
Turns the brightness of your gaze
Toward another, out in space
It stings, to be in this place
Of emptiness, nothingness
Until a loosening, a release
and emptiness now speaks
Of space to fill, and peace.
Wow. "It's stings...." until it becomes a space to fill rather than emptiness. Beautiful and very powerful.
I love this line: “leaving with
our arms empty and our
futures full”
I have been looking toward the new moon this week and pondering what I would release this month. The word disappointment finally surfaced yesterday.
Thank you, Kaitlin. You help me open my hands, which have been clenched, and to be ready for winter’s gift.
Before I even opened my laptop I was making coffee and feeding my dog and thinking these thoughts (though much less eloquently than you have here) about the release I am in the midst of myself. It seems to be a theme in healing ... go figure. And thank you. This was a gift to me this morning. Peace and good to you and yours.
How timely! This fall I finished my book and embraced taking the intimidating step of writing a book proposal. I sent out four queries to agents yesterday and went to sleep to a guided meditation about releasing. I’ve released the outcome to the Lord. And I’ll keep releasing it over and over, I’m sure! Your post is such encouraging confirmation this morning. Thank you!
Congratulations!!! What an accomplishment, whatever the outcome, keep trying.
The Southern Baptist preacher said
that we come into this world with a clenched fist
in defiance of God.
But perhaps we clench our fists because
life is so beautiful
and there is so much to lose.
Staring at my baby on the monitor screen
and holding my breath to look for breathing.
I do not know what world she'll face
and this I cannot control.
To love well
is to unfurl the fist bit by bit
and let my palm breathe in the open air.
She is breathing,
and so I breathe too.
"I love the world, Aunt Lisa,"
my nephew tells me with absolute conviction.
"I love the world."
Holding my breath to look for breathing - that transports to me to that same moment
It's a nightly ritual for me! Thanks for reading. :)
This is so beautiful Lisa! THese lines:
"To love well/is to unfurl the fist bit by bit/and let my palm breathe in the open air." and these: "But perhaps we clench our fists because/life is so beautiful/nd there is so much to lose." These are some of the most wonderful lines I have ever read. I love your poetry, :Lisa!
Thank you so much! I'm really glad it resonated with you.
Release
All autumn there have been leaves
on my small marble-topped coffee table,
leaves that their trees knew when to release:
red maples gathered from a walk in western Pennsylvania;
all shapes of oak leaves I collected
at a local arboretum-
pointed pin oak, lobed white oak,
palm-shaped black oak.
Sometimes my cat jumps onto the table
and paws the leaves,
reminding me of my crackling walks.
The leaves have turned brown now
and I gather them again
to carry them to the edge of the wood
where the rain will weave them
into a sodden blanket for the earth.
The table is bare now, its white marble
gleaming and smooth, cool to the touch.
An oval altar.
I retrieve a box from
a basement closet
and unwrap a small bust of Mary,
white porcelain with a wash of blue-gray.
Her hair is wavy under her porcelain mantle,
her eyes are kind, and cast down,
looking perhaps into an invisible manger.
This Mary was my mother’s.
I place her on the marble table.
And together we wait
for love to be released, with birth pangs,
into the world again.
Oh this is gorgeous! The imagery is so vivid.
I feel myself right there with you. Thank you for these images, so vibrant.
Sweet Release
^
The darkening of night, the shrinking of morning light,
an invitation, again, into the shadows.
I feel so heavy and weighed down, dare I enter?
And I realize, as I unclench my fists
and unbind my heart,
That there is so much to release:
So much toxic and damaging that I am carrying.
But this solstice season,
I am also releasing you, wisdom elder,
Into the next story,
the realms to come,
the poems yet to be written,
the weeping I know will arrive as sure as
the longest night finds the day.
Releasing you so gratefully
into Love,
These tears forming rivers to free you
to the seas.
Larry, the imagery in this poem is powerful.
Thank you so much Nancy!
Kaitlin, your words are so inspiring!
"And there, at the altar, we
release, let go, cry out,
surrender, leaving with
our arms empty and our
futures full, leaving
because we took the time
to welcome release."
These are staying rght close to my heart. And from the intro:
"We go inward so that we can hold space and love and assess who we are and where we are headed. That’s what wintering allows us to do. But in order to get there, we’ve got to release.
What are you releasing?"
Oh my, I have vans full of things to release!
This remindss of me Joy Harjo's poem "I GIve you Back." Then again you are two of my very favorite writers and inpiring wisdom keepers in this world!
Migwetch Larry!
The day begins with a list
I love my lists
and I haven’t figured out yet which I prefer–
lining up the tasks in neatly organized categories of things to accomplish
or checking them off one by one as completed.
Order and structure
control over my day,
lending direction
and taming the swirling wealth of obligations.
But today,
release.
for me.
my body tells me it cannot.
my mind needs rest.
my soul craves sabbath.
2 points for a crumpled paper list
shot straight in the bin.
Hooray for that list in the bin!!!🎉🎉🎉🎉
December 19, 2025
Wailea, Maui
“Our Release”
by Harry Vann Phillips
Tranquility is what we seek in a world one can hardly call tranquil,
Truly, the very best we can do is live our lives as purely as our human selves may, today, tomorrow and always,
Despite the malignancy of modern life which devalues the human spirit and channels each of us into lives of nothing more than chattel,
Working, spending, paying, buying, purchasing to the detriment of not just ourselves but our world, our planet, our home, our global community,
Reacting to the banality modern life has to offer in its various forms, in all its manifestations of absurdity which relentlessly pursues the burying of our understanding of what and who we as individuals are,
Until one day, tired and exhausted, haggard because of worldly hazard, we fall to our knees and pray-pleading to Almighty God, thanking Him for the gift of His most holy son Jesus Christ and the sanctified forgiveness of our sins and those of our fathers to release us from Satan’s grip for eternity. Hvp
Release
Release my annoyance
at the inconvenience
of no power
Release my anger
at those in power
who inflict pain on others.
Release my hurt
left over
from your death.
Release the angst,
agony and sadness
that grips my soul.
All of the hurts
in the world
remain.
Help me find to
find a way to heal
myself and others.
May it be so!
Amen, that is the path.
As soon as I lifted the lid
From the box of oranges
The scent released like freed sunshine
And then as I pulled apart the peel
A bright mist of juice released as well
Finally the the segment placed on my tongue
Releases a firework burst of flavor.
In the undoing and releasing
Of layer upon layer
There is a richer experience to savor
Perfect.
I reworked some of my poem from Day 4 and it began to help me welcome release, as your poem stated, Kaitlin. Thank you.
What is mine?
is a question imperiled by lack.
What is not mine?
is a question ingrained in love.
Releasing fists clenched by constraint
inviting in all that is left
to the feast that inevitably awaits.