Friday, August 31, 2012

The Pattern




















Photo: (c) Jamie K. Reaser

There’s a pattern to things that emerges
when we stop forcing the elements
into form.

It’s the invisible cobble stones
that make up the
circuitous path that lead us
Home.

It’s the tempo of the voice that,  
one quiet night,
we recognize as our own
perfectly timed
request
to come in.

It’s the intersecting lines in the palm
of the hand
that we finally realize
has been leading us where we
never dared
imagine
we could go.

This is what patience means
to me:

Letting life sculpt us
into what Nature
intends.

Like newly dropped
seeds in a some-day
meadow.

Like the clouds
that will become
a pair of dancing
bears.

Like the rain drops
puddling until we
can’t resist four-footed
splashing,

and laughing
and hugging.

Let’s invite the day to come,

And trust that the night
will follow.

~ Jamie K. Reaser, Author
Published in "Coming Home: Learning to Actively Love this World" 

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Monday, August 13, 2012

Sacred Reciprocity - NEW BOOK RELEASED


















I'm pleased to announce that my newest collection of poetry, Sacred Reciprocity: Courting the Beloved in Everyday Life, has just been released by Hiraeth Press. I offer my thanks to everyone who has supported this project with their kind words and personal gifts...that includes many of you!!!

In celebration of the event, Hiraeth Press is offering a 20% discount on my four previous Hiraeth Press titles - two anthologies and two collections of poetry.

Sacred Reciprocity is a collection of poems posted on this blog in 2011 and early 2012.

Note to Self: Poems for Changing the World from the Inside Out largely consists of poems posted on this blog in 2010.

The other titles are only available in hard copy - Huntley Meadows: A Naturalist's Journal in Verse, Courting the Wild: Love Affairs with the Land, and Courting the Wild: Love Affairs with Reptiles and Amphibians.

We'd greatly appreciate your help spreading the word about Sacred Reciprocity's release, please feel free to share the announcement from this blog or the Hiraeth Press website:


My deep gratitude for your presence...

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Bear Medicine















Photo: (c) Jamie K. Reaser

I saw you there in the
humid oak-poplar wood
of late summer morning.

Lanky young bruin
with perfect posture
and amble,

deftly trampling the
delicate ostrich ferns
with each
magnificent
pawfall
as you made your
way, intentfully
and agape,
up the rocky mountain slope.

I waited,

patiently,

like someone who had
just found an unyielding
faith in long-rumored miracles.

Your journey and my journey
will intersect this day.

“Bear medicine,”
some would say.

And we did have our moment.

Yes.

Standing still.

Fully aware of the other’s earthly presence.

Looking deeply into each other’s sight-full eyes.

Breathing each other’s privileged breath
in a way that even a poet shouldn’t
try to explain.

And, there, on sacred ground,
I couldn’t contemplate 'bear medicine.'

Couldn’t feel it tingling the hairs on my arms.

Couldn’t sense it transforming the course of my days.

Couldn’t bring myself to walk,
for even a second,
between the thin-veiled worlds.

No, no as we moved on from that moment,

You climbing Northwest,
Me climbing Southwest,

All I could think about was this:

What is human medicine to a bear?

What is human medicine to a bear?

Is it powerful?

Is it kind?

Does it leave you feeling grateful and graced?

Or, is it...?

Or, does it…?

This is what you left me with.

This question:

What is human medicine to a bear?

This question.

This question that has stilled me
in the dark silence of mySelf,

seeking the wisdom of thoughts
I’ve never before known.

Yes.

Yes...

Bear medicine.


~ Jamie K. Reaser, Author
Published in "Wild Life:New and Selected Poems" 

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Friday, August 3, 2012

The Eaglet















Photo: (c) Jamie K. Reaser, wild harpy eagle chick (5 months old)
Note: Harpy eagles are critically endangered. There may
be as few as 50 nesting pairs remaining in the wild.


What if your nest
was a cathedral?

And, why isn’t it?

We all yearn for sanctuary
under the same tempest
skies.

Here I feel I should humbly
and somewhat awkwardly
confess,

I am human.

What would you think of that?

I wonder.

Do other species feel the
need to apologize for
inhabiting their own skin?

What has humanity granted
either one of us?

Thank you.

I have the answer in the way
you look at me:

“This moment,” you say.

“This moment.”

And it’s true.

It is in this moment that
we get to decide
who and what 
we want
to be.

It’s always in ‘this moment.’

The red mud feels cold and wet
as it hugs my right knee.

This I can do to honor you,

because I am human.


© 2012-2019/Jamie K. Reaser
Published in "Wild Life: New and Selected Poems"