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| 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 . . .
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| "Mindfulness Meditation" by telwink |
from yards . . .
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| "Keeping the Balance" by Matthias Ripp |
and gardens . . .
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| "Zen in the Gardens" by Joseph Illingworth |
from our jaunts around the neighborhood . . .
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| "Mindfulness" by Paul Ritchie |
poems that teach us
"Wherever you go, there you are."– Jon Kabat-Zinn
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| 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
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| 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.
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| "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.























