Poems and Other Writings

This page is dedicated to "singing" the landscapes of our inner ecology and earth to life. Each month, together we'll explore a new poem or piece of writing. We'll see how language that focuses on the particulars of the outer wilderness, can return us to the truth of our inner wilderness.

Please feel free to ponder the questions elicited by the poem below. Memorize a stanza or two. Write a poem of your own. And, if you like, please email me with your own observations, poetry, and thoughts. I'd love to hear from you.

November 2008

Praying

It doesn't have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don't try
to make them elaborate, this isn't
a contest but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.

© Mary Oliver
from Thirst: Poems, by Mary Oliver

• Gratitude can (and often does) begin with the simplest things. Look around and let yourself be drawn to something for which you feel grateful: the view out your window, a loved one, a special object. Now write a poem of thanks to that thing or being.
  
  
• During Thanksgiving make sure to spend a little time in silence, creating a doorway into which "another voice may speak."
  
  
• End each day with a gratitude list. Notice how cultivating gratitude shifts your energy and emotions.
  
  

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