For When People Ask (by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer)

I want a word that means

okay and not okay,

a word that means

devastated and stunned with joy.

I want the word that says

I feel it all, all at once.

The heart is not like a songbird

singing only one note at a time,

more like a Tuvan throat singer

able to sing both a drone

and simultaneously

two or three harmonics high above it—

a sound, the Tuvans say,

that gives the impression

of wind swirling among rocks.

The heart understands the swirl,

how the churning of opposite feelings

weaves through us like an insistent breeze,

leads us wordlessly deeper into ourselves,

blesses us with paradox

so we might walk more openly

into this world so rife with devastation,

this world so ripe with joy.

Rest (by Emily Pearce)

She speaks slowly
with a voice like moss,
soft, deep and damp.
If you’re not listening carefully
you might just miss it,
rising out from the earth
like vapour,
gently tugging at your ankles.
“Rest” she says,
“Deeper. Rest as deep as I am.
You are moving too fast.
Become soil,
become the slow-growing tree.
Send your roots deep
into the rich darkness
where they can truly be nourished.
Winter is sanctuary
and you are weary.
Come drink of my stillness
and dream in the dark earth.”

Hokusai Says (by Roger Keyes)

Hokusai says look carefully.
He says pay attention, notice.
He says keep looking, stay curious.
He says there is no end to seeing.

He says look forward to getting old.
He says keep changing,
you just get more who you really are.
He says get stuck, accept it, repeat
yourself as long as it is interesting.

He says keep doing what you love.

He says keep praying.

He says everyone of us is a child,
everyone of us is ancient,
everyone of us has a body.
He says everyone of us is frightened.
He says everyone of us has to find
a way to live with fear.

He says everything is alive–
shells, buildings, people, fish,
mountains, trees, wood is alive.
Water is alive.

Everything has its own life.

Everything lives inside us.

He says live with the world inside you.

He says it doesn’t matter if you draw,
or write books. It doesn’t matter
if you saw wood, or catch fish.
It doesn’t matter if you sit at home
and stare at the ants on your veranda
or the shadows of the trees
and grasses in your garden.
It matters that you care.

It matters that you feel.

It matters that you notice.

It matters that life lives through you.

Contentment is life living through you.
Joy is life living through you.
Satisfaction and strength
is life living through you.

He says don’t be afraid.
Don’t be afraid.

Love, feel, let life take you by the hand.

Let life live through you.