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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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:

http://hiraethpress.com/sacred-reciprocity-courting-the-beloved-in-everday-life-now-available/

My deep gratitude for your presence...

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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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"