 |
| tanakawho |
Green was the silence, wet was the light,
the month of June trembled like a butterfly
the month of June trembled like a butterfly
– Pablo Neruda, from "Sonnet XL"
Tuesday, June 2, 2020
Thursday, May 28, 2020
May DMC Wrap-Up Celebration
 |
| Marco Verch |
The little things? The little moments? They aren't little.
– Jon Kabat-Zinn
At the beginning of this month, Margaret Simon challenged us to write poems of presence— mindful poems about the present moment. Mary Lee Hahn and Heidi Mordhorst took up the challenge with enthusiasm and turned it into a movement... or at least a hashtag on Twitter
that has been quietly bustling all month long. Combined with activity on blogs and other social media platforms, there were far more mindfulness poems this month than could possibly be captured on our humble DMC padlet. Nevertheless, we ended up with a diverse collection of more than 50 submissions that I'm proud to share with you today.
I marvel at so many of these insightful little gems—
poems from home . . .
 |
| "Mindfulness Meditation" by telwink |
from yards . . .
 |
| "Keeping the Balance" by Matthias Ripp |
and gardens . . .
 |
| "Zen in the Gardens" by Joseph Illingworth |
from our jaunts around the neighborhood . . .
 |
| "Mindfulness" by Paul Ritchie |
poems that teach us
"Wherever you go, there you are."– Jon Kabat-Zinn
 |
| Satish Krishnamurthy |
and
"The things that matter most in our lives are not fantastic or grand. They are moments where we touch each other."
– Jack Kornfield
 |
| Sharon Pazner |
Thank you to everyone who contributed poems this month—I was touched by them all. I hope they've helped you stay afloat as much as they've helped me.
 |
| "Mindfulness on Red Lake" by Steve Jurvetson |
But most of all, my heartfelt gratitude goes to Margaret who came up with just the right challenge at just the right time.
Scroll through the poems below or CLICK HERE to open a new tab.
Inspired to add your own mindfulness poem to the collection? Visit Margaret's spotlight interview for instructions and then click on the pink dot with the plus sign to add your poem to the padlet. While there aren't many days left in May, I'll be leaving this padlet open indefinitely, so feel free to add to it at any point in the future.
At this week's Poetry Friday roundup, Mary Lee Hahn introduces readers to the Reading Without Walls challenge and multi-award-winning "activist poet" Marilyn Chin. Join her at A Year of Reading.
DMC: "Water's Meditation" by Lynn Vieira
WATER'S MEDITATION
still lake, reflecting
drop a pebble in, witness
thoughts, rippling outward
© 2020 Lynn Vieira. All rights reserved.
Wednesday, May 27, 2020
DMC: "I Didn't See" by Kevin Hodgson (Dogtrax)
I Didn’t See
What I saw,
only in words
a single water
droplet dancing
off the edge of
the maple leaf
a young curious
fox watching
by the rocks of
the pine wood
a soft folding
flower shivering
in its blanket
of pink petals
© 2020 Kevin Hodgson (Dogtrax). All rights reserved.
Tuesday, May 26, 2020
DMC: "Wren" by Steve Peterson
WREN
A tiny wren searches
the cracks
the crevices
the low and
beneath-our-notice
places
the crawl and creep places
the afraid-of-
the-dark places
© 2020 Steve Peterson. All rights reserved.
Monday, May 25, 2020
DMC: "dawn whispers hello" by Sandie Vaisnoras
dawn whispers hello
I linger with my coffee
fear is still sleeping
© 2020 Sandie Vaisnoras. All rights reserved.
Thursday, May 21, 2020
DMC: My #PoemsofPresence Diary
One of the silver linings of quarantine life has been the community spirit of reading and writing #PoemsofPresence together. Thanks to Margaret Simon's DMC challenge, keeping up with these "mindful poems about the present moment" on the padlet and on Twitter has not only kept me busy, it's helped to make me feel less isolated. My own focus has been on writing haiku because it makes the daily habit seem less daunting. Not that I haven't missed a few days anyway... but if you can't cut yourself some slack during a global pandemic, when can you??? I'll continue adding to my #PoemsofPresence diary over the coming week if you'd like to stop by again when the month is over.
 |
| M. H. Barnes |
no presents
just presence
quarantine birthday
May 3
morning walk
I count my steps
to the next patch of shade
May 4
sorting my thoughts
into boxes
midday sudoku
 |
| Tom Lee |
May 5
morning news
a lively debate
of birdsong
 |
| Sarah Laval |
quarantine life
eyeing the grass
get its hair cut
May 7
afternoon tea
I welcome the sun
like an old friend
 |
| Richard Hurd |
May 9
I mistake a cardinal
for a stop sign
May 10
avoiding the sidewalk cracks
six feet apart
mother's day
 |
| Steve Schroeder |
long afternoon
postponing my fresh start
one more day
florida spring
the shadow of the ceiling fan
lengthens
 |
| Margaret Simon |
May 14
no more
or less that she can handle
open window
 |
| Rene Rivers |
May 17
the white pickets stand
at attention
May 19
a poem stuck
to the roof of my mouth
morning breath
 |
| M. H. Barnes |
May 20
day's end
my mask and armor
laid to rest
May 21
day 59
the moss holds on
by a thread
 |
| yoppy |
May 23
anthill
the lump in my throat
I can't swallow
May 24
a crowd of clover
congregates
sunday mass
 |
| ihave3kids |
home workout
coaxing my muscles
out of lockdown
May 26
the scenic route
an empty nest
around the next bend
 |
| M. H. Barnes |
May 28
high school graduation
doomsday
takes a back seat
May 29
clouds
exploded into shrapnel
days like these
 |
Tomáš PÃÅ¡ek, "The end will bring beginning" |
May 30
afternoon nap
resting my mind
and expectations
May 31
saying goodbye
in search of an ending that isn't
the end
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
JAMA RATTIGAN
Congratulations, Jama!
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