Yes! I think many of us were sharing this thought :) I have no idea where we came to believe that valleys are the bad places, but I'm sure glad we have them nonetheless <3 I've only known valleys precisely as you've beautifully described them here. Thanks, Jane!
Yes, I feel like this is such a multifaceted concept, and there's lots more to say - I've got a growing list of things I want to share more about based on these poems once I start publishing my newsletter. It's comforting to know I won't run out of ideas anytime soon! It's also been very distracting😅
Hehe, I hear you! Oh, I can’t wait to see all you write and hopefully get to engage in some insightful and provocative discourse for all! 💗
(And man, I have yet to find the system for my brain that is satisfied both by the way I capture ideas and by the way I don’t let them distract me haha.)
This one is important to me because of the story that preceded it this day. It's not that exceptional, but it's significant. Especially savoring each day left now :)
.
Valley
.
You say I’m in the valley,
Like it’s a bad thing,
A hard place.
You’re right, maybe I am in the valley,
But I know it as beauty,
A refreshing place.
You know, in fact,
I celebrate this valley, because it means
I’ve started my journey.
It means I’ve put in my time and
Put down my feet, all in the
Right places to bring me
To rest.
I look around me in this valley,
At the birds twinkling in the pines,
At the crisp snap of the sunlight
On the lake a few steps away,
And I see nothing but a paradise,
A campground of your “miscreants” and “outcasts,”
Deviously cooking dinner on the fire,
Laughing out the schemes of our agenda
Obviously funny
Because if we didn’t put on this facade,
Didn’t seem like
Happy
Friendly
People
You’d know, and we can’t have that.
Blessedly, on this warm sunny day,
I can’t hold anything against you.
I can’t, and I wouldn’t want to,
My pack would be too heavy.
I’m carrying only the essentials.
I ain’t got nothin’ but
Blue skies, dry feet
Some plant-based meal bar Ten gave me
A box of matches
And an award-winning attitude.
I’ve done this before
Or something like it
And I know all that’s truly real out here
Is how many steps I believe I’ll take,
How many freeze-dried meals I’m willing to scarf down,
Shoo, didn’t have much energy left to engage as I’d normally like to with everyone yet because I was giving birth to the mighty essay that wanted to accompany the poem. It’s too important not to share. Surprisingly, this prompt might have touched me most passionately out of all so far.
Can’t wait to see everyone’s work and hear what you think 💗
This is splendid, Jillian. You have written a story here in poem form, wonderfully poignant and telling, with great depth and reality. Thank you for digging down to bring this one forth. It is a poem I keep reading and discovering something new with each reading.
This is super beautiful, Danis! Thank you for this gorgeous thought. I love the way you compose and package it so entirely. It's both attention grabbing and soft :)
I also love the way you took us into your valley with "tectonic shift" and "rift" - it's a really lovely texture through which to make this journey. Thank you, Sarah!
This is very nice, Sarah! I love the way yoiu start==tectonic shift pulls me in rignt away. And the ending is sweet, "Valley as fertile ground." Thank you for thr gift of your poems!
And exactly! If there is death in every corner and "evil" (I take issue with that word, but conversation for another time haha) in every town, what should make us fear the valleys more than other places particularly? Thanks, Larry :)
I LOVE how much being back in Shenandoah is lifting you up - it's clear in everything you've been writing lately. I celebrate your reunion a lot <3
Thank you Jilian. I hear you about the word, "evil," and have struggled with it as well. I welcome conversation around this. I do note that evil spelled backward is Live!
Second Julie - this is a true experience, Bob, and it's the kind of experience I especially savor in poetry. So tingly, so tangible! I love this very very much! Thank you :)
I wonder if valleys can also be resting places? Times to nourish and replenish before the challenging work of climbing? A base camp for life, if you will. Time to gather supplies and plan our journey ahead. 🏔️
I love that idea! Awhile ago I tried to start setting aside one day a week that was unplanned, no to-do list allowed! It's super challenging and I don't do it every week, by far- but just knowing how nourishing it is to my soul helps me carve time out for it as often as I can!
I absolutely think they are! It's been such an interesting experience reading through the poems today, because from where I'm currently standing, I can't see any sign of valleys truly being the hard places, the low places, in my life. Or in life in general.
I love valleys because the entire world of your sight opens up around you, at the same time that you drink it all in, gather supplies, and rest ;) You haven't stepped off the trail in a valley, after all - there will still be plenty to engage with ahead ;) (I wrote so much about this in my post for this poem, because it stirred something big up in me that I don't want to drop ;D haha. My heart kept telling me, "Getting our awareness of valleys right is a big deal!")
I love this poem a lot, Steven! So visceral - I appreciated the sense of the weariness especially as the entrance for the rest.
Absolutely, I think we might have been talking about the exact same scene of the exact same valley ;) I really really love your perspective and I'm so glad you were there to share that moment with us! :)
Beautiful poem reflecting the hawks flight. I love red-tailed hawks. There are so many around where I live. They speak to me. Literally at times I hear their screech, other times it is a recognition in the heart.
Wow, this is so beautiful, Trish. I appreciate the wisdom from these hawks that you share so powerfully with us. I'm grateful that such wisdom does exist, that we can look to the skies for our teachers, even in the valleys, even while on the mountaintops.
Your message, which I hear so many of us echoing in our poems for this day, is so potent filtered through the hawk's perspective. I love it <3
This is beauitful, Trish! The past two days looking out ovwr mountains and valleys, red tailed hawks have stilled us with their beauitful soaring flight. Thank you for this elegant and beautifull description!
I think valleys sometimes get a bad press -
the lows, the troughs
the vale of tears
the valley of the shadow of death
But what of the hidden valley
the gentle, green slopes
the rippling river
the breeze in the branches
the delicate daisies?
What of the peaceful haven of rest
where I can be still and reflect
take time to think
and be renewed?
Yes! I think many of us were sharing this thought :) I have no idea where we came to believe that valleys are the bad places, but I'm sure glad we have them nonetheless <3 I've only known valleys precisely as you've beautifully described them here. Thanks, Jane!
This is wonderful Jane! I was on the same train of thought! I have usally loved the vallety I have found!
The thing
about being
in a valley is that
after you've hit the
bottom you still have
to climb your way back out.
Dang. There is that. Perhaps some company for an occasional hand along the path up.
Perhaps, vzlleys often being quite beauitful and magical, we can stay a while and dream!
That's beautiful, A :) Thanks for that truth.
A different aspect of that same valley coin: we get to climb our way back out. There's always more road ahead, for better or for worse.
Yes, I feel like this is such a multifaceted concept, and there's lots more to say - I've got a growing list of things I want to share more about based on these poems once I start publishing my newsletter. It's comforting to know I won't run out of ideas anytime soon! It's also been very distracting😅
Hehe, I hear you! Oh, I can’t wait to see all you write and hopefully get to engage in some insightful and provocative discourse for all! 💗
(And man, I have yet to find the system for my brain that is satisfied both by the way I capture ideas and by the way I don’t let them distract me haha.)
This one is important to me because of the story that preceded it this day. It's not that exceptional, but it's significant. Especially savoring each day left now :)
.
Valley
.
You say I’m in the valley,
Like it’s a bad thing,
A hard place.
You’re right, maybe I am in the valley,
But I know it as beauty,
A refreshing place.
You know, in fact,
I celebrate this valley, because it means
I’ve started my journey.
It means I’ve put in my time and
Put down my feet, all in the
Right places to bring me
To rest.
I look around me in this valley,
At the birds twinkling in the pines,
At the crisp snap of the sunlight
On the lake a few steps away,
And I see nothing but a paradise,
A campground of your “miscreants” and “outcasts,”
Deviously cooking dinner on the fire,
Laughing out the schemes of our agenda
Obviously funny
Because if we didn’t put on this facade,
Didn’t seem like
Happy
Friendly
People
You’d know, and we can’t have that.
Blessedly, on this warm sunny day,
I can’t hold anything against you.
I can’t, and I wouldn’t want to,
My pack would be too heavy.
I’m carrying only the essentials.
I ain’t got nothin’ but
Blue skies, dry feet
Some plant-based meal bar Ten gave me
A box of matches
And an award-winning attitude.
I’ve done this before
Or something like it
And I know all that’s truly real out here
Is how many steps I believe I’ll take,
How many freeze-dried meals I’m willing to scarf down,
And how much I savor every moment,
Squeeze out each drop of joy,
Throw myself to gratitude,
Whether that’s on the cliff face
Or in the valley.
.
Besides,
When you’re staring down a bear,
Or on the wrong end of an empty water tank,
A valley’s exceptionally not so bad.
Shoo, didn’t have much energy left to engage as I’d normally like to with everyone yet because I was giving birth to the mighty essay that wanted to accompany the poem. It’s too important not to share. Surprisingly, this prompt might have touched me most passionately out of all so far.
Can’t wait to see everyone’s work and hear what you think 💗
https://open.substack.com/pub/jillianjoy/p/day-25-valley?r=2achwh&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
This is splendid, Jillian. You have written a story here in poem form, wonderfully poignant and telling, with great depth and reality. Thank you for digging down to bring this one forth. It is a poem I keep reading and discovering something new with each reading.
Thanks so much for your beautiful reflection, Larry! I'm fascinated you keep finding new facets within it. Appreciate your watchful gaze very much <3
Wow. We both wrote something similar. You did it more eloquently than me.
Thank you again.
I'm finding (quite happily) many of us are indeed sharing a thought. Thanks for so kindly saying so <3
I had to walk through a few valleys; though none have been alike,
The darkest one eventually led to the most sunlight,
Finally, The rocky terrain surrendered into smooth sand
The river became the ocean and I was able to get to the land.
And although I will never ever ever go back,
I'm glad that that valley led me to this path.
This is super beautiful, Danis! Thank you for this gorgeous thought. I love the way you compose and package it so entirely. It's both attention grabbing and soft :)
This is very nice Danis!
A tectonic shift
has hollowed me
I survey the rift
Ripped by the blow
Steep walls protect me
mountains to my valley low
My body grieves
what was lost
the valley my reprieve
Rest and see what is found
deep below the surface
the valley is fertile ground
Oh, you gave us everything here, Sarah. Thank you. I feel honoured to read this poem and recieve your trust. May your reprieve supply your need.
I also love the way you took us into your valley with "tectonic shift" and "rift" - it's a really lovely texture through which to make this journey. Thank you, Sarah!
This is very nice, Sarah! I love the way yoiu start==tectonic shift pulls me in rignt away. And the ending is sweet, "Valley as fertile ground." Thank you for thr gift of your poems!
i was taught to fear the valley;
it was, supposedly, dark and
dangerous.
now i know valleys are
teeming with life, verdant and
vital.
the mountains are treacherous;
awesome from afar,
scary up close.
i prefer a valley view of mountains
over a mountain top view of valleys
where the air is certain.
Oh, nice! This is wonderful - the way you compose the whole thing just hits me so well!
Valleys - "where the air is certain." Yes!
Thank you so much for your thoughts, April :)
Very nice April! So many of us taught to fear the valleys.
I wonder where that really came from, especially if these people were also engaging with mighty mountains!
Down in the Valley
If you find yourself down in the valley,
With the mountain peaks all around,
Don't be so quick to start climbing those hills,
For there's beauty to be found.
Even down in the low lying valley,
You descend to during those days.
There are fields and flowers and rocks and streams
To discover beneath the haze.
Learn to love your time in the valley,
For when later you reach the peaks.
You'll look back at your time though low that it was,
And remember the quiet and peace.
Karri Temple Brackett
May 25, 2023
https://themarvelousandthemundane.com/2023/05/25/down-in-the-valley/
I like the melody of this poem very much :) And the love you bring so clearly to it! Thanks, Karri.
Very nice Karri, rhythmic and flowing.
Valley
“Beautiful daughter of the stars,”
seems to fit this rolling land.
The roll of the hills and rivers flowing
like the syllables in your name, Shenandoah.
It was here in this wide valley where I became me,
hiker of hills and mountains,
paddler of rivers, cyclist of up and down.
seeking a poem and a song around every bend.
Our society seems to find valleys as places to avoid,
low places of mind, body and spirit.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of
the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”
Though, I have found death in every corner,
mountaintops and beyond,
and evil in every city and town,
and it has made me fearful.
Lo, it is not the valleys to be feared…
Here, in this valley rimmed by misty mountains,
carved elegantly from centuries of collisions,
high rising peaks chiseled and worn by time.
here I have wandered in earth’s loving masterpiece.
Elegant sculptor, divine artist, universe centered symphony,
this gentle valley leads me besides its living waters.
turning me inward so I can see outward,
beauty unbounded in this letter from home.
So lovely! "Universe centered symphony" - nice!
And exactly! If there is death in every corner and "evil" (I take issue with that word, but conversation for another time haha) in every town, what should make us fear the valleys more than other places particularly? Thanks, Larry :)
I LOVE how much being back in Shenandoah is lifting you up - it's clear in everything you've been writing lately. I celebrate your reunion a lot <3
Thank you Jilian. I hear you about the word, "evil," and have struggled with it as well. I welcome conversation around this. I do note that evil spelled backward is Live!
I’d certainly be happy to hear your thoughts sometime. And yes!! I love that :)
I will share and likewise from you! I value your perspective very much!
I look forward to it <3
I live in a valley
one of grapes & wine.
A destination for many
which is totally fine.
Preferring the surrounding hills
that make this a valley.
I hike out in nature
this is more up my alley.
Don’t get me wrong
I love all the vineyards.
But give me the wilderness
flora and fauna are my kindreds.
knowing your go-to place(s) is good. So, like, you can go-to it/them.
So lovely, Julie :) I love every way you relate to valleys here.
there is a sweet spot
halfway between up and down
where noise from above
gives way to descent
into the valley and
the sound of water
flowing over pebble
has not yet
ascended
to tease
your cochlear nerve
.
quiet settles
.
heed the call
of auditory
quiescence
Ahhh you took me there...
always good to have company. thanks for coming along.
This one is so inviting, Bob!
thank you. hearing the call, taking some steps, even in heart/mind can be transformative. Ahh...
This is very sweet, Bob. What beauty often lies in our valleys!
Second Julie - this is a true experience, Bob, and it's the kind of experience I especially savor in poetry. So tingly, so tangible! I love this very very much! Thank you :)
It was almost like poetry ASMR for me ;)
ASMR, yes: I call it "arm hairs!"
hahaha! That's one way of looking at it ;)
I wonder if valleys can also be resting places? Times to nourish and replenish before the challenging work of climbing? A base camp for life, if you will. Time to gather supplies and plan our journey ahead. 🏔️
A sabbath, maybe?
I love that idea! Awhile ago I tried to start setting aside one day a week that was unplanned, no to-do list allowed! It's super challenging and I don't do it every week, by far- but just knowing how nourishing it is to my soul helps me carve time out for it as often as I can!
Yes, Mariah! I am thinking the same thing. I love valleys!
I absolutely think they are! It's been such an interesting experience reading through the poems today, because from where I'm currently standing, I can't see any sign of valleys truly being the hard places, the low places, in my life. Or in life in general.
I love valleys because the entire world of your sight opens up around you, at the same time that you drink it all in, gather supplies, and rest ;) You haven't stepped off the trail in a valley, after all - there will still be plenty to engage with ahead ;) (I wrote so much about this in my post for this poem, because it stirred something big up in me that I don't want to drop ;D haha. My heart kept telling me, "Getting our awareness of valleys right is a big deal!")
I sit here
in the valley
I have been here
for so long
searching the horizon
for a way to the top
the way out
exhausted from the
time struggling
I sigh deeply
close my eyes
returning to
centering prayer
emptying myself
it is then that
I hear it
the sounds of the valley
amazing really
I listen longer
more sounds
not the mechanical sounds
of vehicles or machines
the organized and chaotic
sounds of human discussion
passionate oratory and
the noise of politics
these sounds feel pure
unencumbered by agenda
or consuming ideology
these reverberations
signal life for
creation's sake
I open my eyes
and see it all
what my focus
blinded me to
life in the valley
that sustains me
that protects me
that heals me
and now
is inspiring me
and that will show
the path that
I must journey
to reach the top
of the valley
the source of life
I love this poem a lot, Steven! So visceral - I appreciated the sense of the weariness especially as the entrance for the rest.
Absolutely, I think we might have been talking about the exact same scene of the exact same valley ;) I really really love your perspective and I'm so glad you were there to share that moment with us! :)
Beautiful. Thank you!
What wonderful thought. Thank you
A lone.
climb of alone.
that you out of alone.
cannot climb out of alone.
Brilliant word play and provocation here all around! :)
Yes! Very real and sweet!
Tranquil or frantic,
All things come down the mountain.
Watch out when it rains.
I will stay alert. Thank you for reminding me.
Valley
The red-tailed hawk
glides through the air
over the valley
below us.
She makes flying
look so
effortless.
Unlike the smaller birds
who strive to fly,
flapping their little wings
so hard,
the hawk seems
to float on the air
without bending a wing.
Diligently scanning,
she finds a thermal of air
and begins her ascent.
Round and round she goes.
Not stuck on repeat
in the same cycle,
she instead goes
higher and higher
as she circles.
She has learned
to surrender
to the warm air
and go with the flow
she finds herself in.
From up there,
she has such
a higher
and wider
perspective
on everything.
And she’s not striving.
Just yielding
and flying
over the valley.
Beautiful poem reflecting the hawks flight. I love red-tailed hawks. There are so many around where I live. They speak to me. Literally at times I hear their screech, other times it is a recognition in the heart.
Me, too, Julie! I love them, and they have taught me so much.
Wow, this is so beautiful, Trish. I appreciate the wisdom from these hawks that you share so powerfully with us. I'm grateful that such wisdom does exist, that we can look to the skies for our teachers, even in the valleys, even while on the mountaintops.
Your message, which I hear so many of us echoing in our poems for this day, is so potent filtered through the hawk's perspective. I love it <3
This is beauitful, Trish! The past two days looking out ovwr mountains and valleys, red tailed hawks have stilled us with their beauitful soaring flight. Thank you for this elegant and beautifull description!
Just right timing for these words 🙏 Moving ahead holding this paradox.