tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56942681012895449042024-03-05T05:44:47.243-08:00Talking WatersThe Poetry of Jamie K. ReaserJamie K. Reaserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08903854767881090380noreply@blogger.comBlogger440125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5694268101289544904.post-15508348148875264232021-05-20T06:05:00.003-07:002021-05-20T06:06:23.042-07:00Untamed<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh_e9yu8rCuwx2SzvO5S0VzQwuG3D36Z-kw06aqXnjzhjOS1uia997nCKXeXzL-KuuCD7Kj4fvfGlixLRX9Za4vd1XEaJul8qIUaris2_hGPpD6BthaFrnlSMaQVq1g3ShsAtRGIBmFmf9/s2048/DSCN5831.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh_e9yu8rCuwx2SzvO5S0VzQwuG3D36Z-kw06aqXnjzhjOS1uia997nCKXeXzL-KuuCD7Kj4fvfGlixLRX9Za4vd1XEaJul8qIUaris2_hGPpD6BthaFrnlSMaQVq1g3ShsAtRGIBmFmf9/s320/DSCN5831.JPG" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Photo: (c) Jamie K. Reaser</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>What if I stopped agreeing<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>to this domestication? To
the<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>taming that some young
part<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>of me and, or, some
ancestor<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>acquiesced to for some
good<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>reason? Survival, perhaps.<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b> </b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>What if I stopped mowing<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>the grass and let the
flowers<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>arise? I wonder if some
day <o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>I could remember the songs<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>they sing to the bees—<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b> </b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>the ones I knew as a child<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>by heart, the ones adults <o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>told me weren’t there.<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b> </b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>What if I stopped raking<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>the leaves, let them<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>lay? Would the box turtle <o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>hide there, and the newt? <o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b> </b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>And, perhaps, just maybe,<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>the scurrying white-footed
<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>mouse that I adore would<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>rush to nestle in the pile
<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>and become something <o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>of the screech owl that I <o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>adore. Who am I to judge <o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>what form love takes?<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b> </b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>What if I told you about <o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>These wild things that
inhabit<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>untamable landscapes –<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>the ones around us,<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>the ones within us. If I
just<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>let my voice go…<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b> </b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>What if I asked you what<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>your body remembers of<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>being animal? How does<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>it want to move through<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>uncut grass? How does<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>it want to move through<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>a pile of leaves? What
does <o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>it want to take up in its
talons?<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b> </b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>What if I released you<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>from your cage and you,<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b> </b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>leaping forth into the
vastness,<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>rushing with great force <o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>toward the horizon, <o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b> </b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>suddenly wheeled around,
slowed <o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>to a contemplative stride,
and, <o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b> </b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>breaking all the rules,<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b> </b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>set me free?<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b> </b></span></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>~ Jamie K.
Reaser, Author<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;"><b>Feel free to share</b></span></span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Jamie K. Reaserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08903854767881090380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5694268101289544904.post-47191717451847903352019-10-21T07:36:00.003-07:002020-10-22T06:09:37.823-07:00Sensational Curves<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwPfMKxTaIxmVYhGQQ_YrOxFneXqa7yfiE6KrRoc9utL2OFPcxDM_qP2C36qrQzGbbOEngaD8l6-q54vmJtyehSmiwSEDN6J7FFrvw8hxRTLOELC8mLh01oZxhuR0aoAjT9PV1bNyb8jWx/s1600/SensationalCurves.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="602" data-original-width="766" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwPfMKxTaIxmVYhGQQ_YrOxFneXqa7yfiE6KrRoc9utL2OFPcxDM_qP2C36qrQzGbbOEngaD8l6-q54vmJtyehSmiwSEDN6J7FFrvw8hxRTLOELC8mLh01oZxhuR0aoAjT9PV1bNyb8jWx/s320/SensationalCurves.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Art: Mark Collins</b></span><br />
<a href="https://markcollinsfineart.com/"><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><b>https://markcollinsfineart.com/</b></span></a><br />
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b><br /></b></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>Stick figures are drawn,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>and then, hung.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>As children, what were we<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>supposed to learn from
that<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>about body image?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>Sometimes, they called me<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>a stick figure. It wasn’t
meant<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>to be nice. Once, in front
of <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>the other kids, my coach handed
<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>me a big tub of peanut
butter <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>and told me to eat it.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>I wondered if I’d ever
have<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>curves and if I’d be
lovable<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>then.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>I thought:<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>“That would be
sensational!”<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>~<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>When people think of
flamingos,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>I think they think of pink
and,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>then, legs. Maybe they stand
there,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>for a bit, contemplating
that beak<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>that was put on upside down
<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>and backwards.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>But, you know, if you
really watch<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>a flamingo, you must
conclude <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>that they are all about showing
<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>off their curves.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>Strut right, leg up,
forward, down.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>Left, leg up, forward,
down. Lean<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>in, twist just so, make it
hippy,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>lift a little wing. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>Paying attention to me
now?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>Stretch the long neck out,
up, angle,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>slowly now, in, start to
tuck, roll, <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>bring the head around,
look at that <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>shape, the sensational curves!<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>Hold for a count of five.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>Do you still think we are
alone<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>in the universe?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>~<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>Every day, well almost
every day,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>when the painter takes a
walk down<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>to the stream, he picks up
a pebble<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>and gives it a name.
Something, like:<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>“Sensational.”<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>He started doing this for
the poet,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>but those little stones
claimed <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>his life too.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>So, now, when it lands in
the water,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>with a plink or a plop, <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>what ripples forth, in row
after <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>row of curves, is a
two-fold blessing.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>We are not alone.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>~<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>And, there’s at least one
more<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>thing to say about curves.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>Look to the right, to the
left,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>in front, behind. Turn
your head<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>all around.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>Pay attention now. Notice
that<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>we are all lovable. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>Isn’t that
sensational!<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d; font-size: x-small;"><b>~ Jamie
K. Reaser, Author<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d; font-size: x-small;"><b>For a book collaboration in progress with artist Mark Collins</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d; font-size: x-small;"><b>Feel free to share</b></span></span></div>
<br />Jamie K. Reaserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08903854767881090380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5694268101289544904.post-1629423487787355132019-10-16T07:12:00.005-07:002021-10-13T07:07:03.645-07:00Autumn Rain<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNQo9LuAGOTrQ2am5EsIs4j2jABgREpPg42JVYLpPdMpL1MWpyYGYA2AuSOOEcJMB5kLfKgbtxEKUQx151aO5wKlRRRfPY-CQ6KJ98MQh3SyZmdATKqzAbHQj8hj2HhQXY1wVeOdxI3xGN/s1600/DSCN2470.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNQo9LuAGOTrQ2am5EsIs4j2jABgREpPg42JVYLpPdMpL1MWpyYGYA2AuSOOEcJMB5kLfKgbtxEKUQx151aO5wKlRRRfPY-CQ6KJ98MQh3SyZmdATKqzAbHQj8hj2HhQXY1wVeOdxI3xGN/s320/DSCN2470.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Photo: (c) Jamie K. Reaser</b></span><br />
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b><br /></b></span>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>There have been years, when the summer has</b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>been so dry, that this wish arrives deep<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>in the soul, wanting autumn rains to yield to prayers. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>I think that there are within us certain longings<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>that, no matter the rules of the times, find us<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>embodying our animal ways, the longings<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>that take us back to the realization that this<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>isn’t ours to control, that there is something else<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>out there that we depend on. Today, it’s the<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>rain and whoever it is that caretakes the rain.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>And too, there is this thing that happens when<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>you realize that the earth is rejoicing along with<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>you—listen to the way it praises!—that some of our <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>desires are shared with things that are still enlivened <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>though it has become convenient to think them not. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>So, this is what it is like to light the first fire in
the<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>woodstove as the rain pelts the metal roof and I <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>consider that here too is another day to be grateful
<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>for the company that keeps me alive.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<o:p><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b><br /></b></span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: x-small;"><b>~ Jamie K. Reaser, Author<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: x-small;"><b>From "Truth and Beauty: Poems on the Nature of Humanity"</b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: x-small;"><b>Feel free to share</b></span></div>
<br />Jamie K. Reaserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08903854767881090380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5694268101289544904.post-81173286255131086172019-09-19T06:34:00.006-07:002020-08-29T06:06:45.125-07:00The Black Walnut Trees<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Gr7MaYgINjh0Pphtr1Awaq702KaFl0x7ukoiKQC0xTMRs21-rJwIubWBEjOEmNjmLxAbkHQIUW6fk9m0jk4bw2t90CB0dE_kalQbVT06JEzpwi7q2AZDypMheEvISSUJIy4hG6lbE7Rz/s1600/DSCN0336.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Gr7MaYgINjh0Pphtr1Awaq702KaFl0x7ukoiKQC0xTMRs21-rJwIubWBEjOEmNjmLxAbkHQIUW6fk9m0jk4bw2t90CB0dE_kalQbVT06JEzpwi7q2AZDypMheEvISSUJIy4hG6lbE7Rz/s320/DSCN0336.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Photo: (c) Jamie K. Reaser</b></span><br />
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<b style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="color: #a2c4c9;">When I arrived here things</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>
were not as I had expected,<br />
not at all, truth be told.<br />
On my first night, I slept<br />
out on the deck, under the<br />
stars and the arm of a tree.<br />
In the night, she came to me,<br />
a bright shining she who<br />
was the tree and she said,<br />
“I know why you are here. The<br />
land called you here.” With<br />
that, she left, but I did not.<br />
One day, a man came up the <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>drive in an old rust-bottomed <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>pick up. He thought me a fool. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>“Mam, I see ya got these big <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>ol’ trees, dangerous, gonna fall <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>on yur place. I’ll cut ‘em fer ya, <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>even carry ‘em away, cheap.” <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>I know a thing or two about<br />
being swindled, and also how<br />
to talk like I’m from a place.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>“Sir, ain’t nobody gonna touch<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>my black walnuts! Not today,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>not ever. No, Sir, they ain’t.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Now, git!” He understood me.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>The truck bumped its way back<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>down the drive at, quite remarkably,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>twice the speed it had arrived. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>He hasn’t called on me since. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>So, the black walnut grove still <br />
extends its arms, still embraces <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>my little cabin, still embraces me,<br />
still knows secrets that <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>I haven’t yet learned</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>of myself.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>~ Jamie K. Reaser, Author<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Published in Conversations with Mary: Words of Attention and Devotion</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Feel free to share</b></span>Jamie K. Reaserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08903854767881090380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5694268101289544904.post-58205523165774204202019-09-13T09:54:00.005-07:002021-09-19T06:32:52.368-07:00The Necessary Voyage<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf9R5XSKa4hkwgijJ349HJadS9mF0UAcdFEZj5HKOVqQTav4ZmqtTwfpRYtMpKDxyqdUTEvyRtQQM9dpPXnC6USj503HW8kiIQglE15L4aptnCgUIPYn0MPaIzqUgBV4Gira9PENMgGz3U/s1600/wormeating.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf9R5XSKa4hkwgijJ349HJadS9mF0UAcdFEZj5HKOVqQTav4ZmqtTwfpRYtMpKDxyqdUTEvyRtQQM9dpPXnC6USj503HW8kiIQglE15L4aptnCgUIPYn0MPaIzqUgBV4Gira9PENMgGz3U/s320/wormeating.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span face="" style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Photo: (c) Jamie K. Reaser</b></span><br />
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<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3;"><b>When the birds have come to say, “wake and rise,” <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3;"><b>I do, gathering my life into a bundle of severances, <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3;"><b>resting words of gratitude on the brows of the departed, <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3;"><b>some of them in mirrors, my heart used up in this place.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3;"><b><br />
Not of all voyagers get maps or a compass that points<br />
to something other than grief. Some must go without <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3;"><b>bearing. Actually, the honest books, sermons, and town <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3;"><b>criers say that many and many more are going this way,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3;"><b>just on from somewhere destroyed, hoping with an acrid, <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3;"><b>musty hope that there is a healing land before them.<br />
For a man to leave what he loves, there’s a good chance<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3;"><b>he’s already died, or begun to and surely will.<br />
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Does one remain a citizen of a fallen city?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3;"><b>Shall I ask this of the woodland creatures? Shall I ask
it<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3;"><b>of my name and those who carried it into the world <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3;"><b>before me over long distances because, well, because<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3;"><b>love departed the soul of some person and place.<br />
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At my desk near a large picture window, I write and<br />
and wonder while listening to the song of birds<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3;"><b>who will soon lift and go. What can I inherit of this?<br />
What’s there to make of the necessary voyage when<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3;"><b>the land no longer offers a tending embrace.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3;"><b>I don’t know how the birds do it, keeping their glee<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3;"><b>about it year after year. We humans aren’t built<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3;"><b>like that it seems. Life after life it goes on, the <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3;"><b>wretched longing for birth place, for story place,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3;"><b>for the place that made sense of us.<br />
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We arrive wounded, betrayed by the gods, weeping,<br />
and impatient to love and be loved again. Looking <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3;"><b>around I realize that we are all necessary voyagers. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3;"><b>How do I make my peace with that fact? How <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3;"><b>do I reconcile my ability to hang seed for the birds, <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3;"><b>but not to provision water in a desert, or a map and <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3;"><b>compass to the great ship captain?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3; font-size: x-small;"><b>~ Jamie K. Reaser, Author</b></span></div>
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<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3; font-size: x-small;"><b>Published in Conversations with Mary: Words of Attention and Devotion</b></span></div>
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<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3; font-size: x-small;"><b>Winner of the Nautilus Book Award silver medal for poetry</b></span></div>
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<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span face="" style="color: #d9ead3; font-size: x-small;"><b>Feel free to share</b></span></div>
<br />Jamie K. Reaserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08903854767881090380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5694268101289544904.post-38689212219070564282019-09-07T09:15:00.003-07:002020-09-12T12:21:24.799-07:00I Bow Down<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXQ7iMmKiXGzEmNuzcltOrWAPzw0nnRsDSFs5TnKKz88LI2ei-b-XbpK6RUGLJuJRW0nuP1gllkTOvWZxy2dK9KAKl1_LRA-7iTH_YzVqvTDaSD22iIO0Rad0qcDGjLXYs299Kut_nmld-/s1600/DSCN5026.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXQ7iMmKiXGzEmNuzcltOrWAPzw0nnRsDSFs5TnKKz88LI2ei-b-XbpK6RUGLJuJRW0nuP1gllkTOvWZxy2dK9KAKl1_LRA-7iTH_YzVqvTDaSD22iIO0Rad0qcDGjLXYs299Kut_nmld-/s320/DSCN5026.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Photo: (c) Jamie K. Reaser</b></span><br />
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<i><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>I bow down.</b></span></i></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>I bow down to the sky that oversees<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>the liars and the truthsayers.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>I bow down to the earth that conveys<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>the rich and the poor.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>I bow down to the child that will lead<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>tomorrow and the child that leads<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>today and the child that must become<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>an angel because we won’t follow<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>the children otherwise. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>What I stand for is that which <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>I bow down to: <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>that which says we’re not done <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>yet, there’s a lot more to learn<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>to love. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<o:p><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b><br /></b></span></o:p></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: x-small;"><b>~ Jamie K. Reaser, Author<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: x-small;"><b>Published in Conversations with Mary: Words of Attention and Devotion</b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: x-small;"><b>Winner of the Nautilus Book Award silver medal for lyrical prose</b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: x-small;"><b>Feel free to share</b></span></div>
<br />Jamie K. Reaserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08903854767881090380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5694268101289544904.post-67779233342556929522019-09-03T18:26:00.003-07:002021-11-21T05:00:36.871-08:00The Black Walnut Grove<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0uvvdVgnraNxGcbpl6E9I8pytxvg7r7A9B3nY61880vPIcMwCyuPvgL2GnCEgilGpBNgSLgJSxQXB0EJdBu7qO_PT9jn3U1LdxQdN3YXzaC8NEtZJ8odQXwDsQalwNkrNE-3ieWFOjDbz/s1600/68622411_10219425664455955_225124421671583744_o.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1117" data-original-width="1600" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0uvvdVgnraNxGcbpl6E9I8pytxvg7r7A9B3nY61880vPIcMwCyuPvgL2GnCEgilGpBNgSLgJSxQXB0EJdBu7qO_PT9jn3U1LdxQdN3YXzaC8NEtZJ8odQXwDsQalwNkrNE-3ieWFOjDbz/s320/68622411_10219425664455955_225124421671583744_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Photo: (c) Jamie K. Reaser</b></span><br />
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>My cabin is nestled in a black walnut grove. The grey-black trees
stand tall and firm, like guardians. Their thick branches reach out and around,
embracing. Lichen, moss, and vines adorn them in a manner that you’re sure is
ceremonial. They are trees and not just trees, like in the way that you know
you’ve had dreams that weren’t just dreams. I’m getting to that.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>The black walnut is an edge species, meaning that it is neither
of the forest nor the field. Its role is not to fit quite in. It’s also
considered a pioneer species, meaning that it’s one of the first to show up
when a place needs healing. It has been widely regarded for its utility: the
dark wood—easily worked as hardwoods go—sap sugars, brown dye from the nut
hulls, and nut meat and oil, despite the fact that it is one tough nut to
crack. Medicinally, among other things, it has been used to address a wide
range of skin and gut issues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>I think I was in my late twenties when the first part of the
dream came to me. I’m pretty sure that it was after my mother’s death. So, I would
have been twenty-six, at least. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>I was listening to a young woman talk about her stepmother.
She was saying that the thing she appreciated most about her was her sense of gratitude.
Her stepmother was a deeply grateful person. It was like gratitude was what her
stepmother lived on—her breath, her sustenance. The young woman went on to say
that when she was a child, she didn’t think much about it; it was just the way
her stepmother was. However, as she grew older and began to frequent the edges
of adult conversations, she started to learn things about her stepmother’s life
before she had become her stepmother. Her stepmother’s life, she learned, had
been difficult. At times, very difficult. This surprised her and impacted her
deeply. She considered herself lucky. She was well loved and supported. To be
truthful, she was quite privileged. If her stepmother could be so grateful
despite an affluence of dark days, then certainly she could be more grateful
for all that she had. She decided to become a grateful person, like her
stepmother. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>When I awoke from the dream, I thought it beautiful. It felt
bittersweet—like something that exists at the interface of sadness and joy. It
couldn’t fully occupy either sentiment, but contained both, actively. I was
deeply moved by the thought of what it would be like to impart such a gift to a
child, how it could transform a life, how it could transform some aspect of the
world. I thought: I’m going to be grateful. I’m going adopt gratitude as a way
of living. And, so, I did. Well, I’ve been trying my best, anyway. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>The scientific name for the black walnut is <i>Juglans nigra</i>.
The tree is literally of the gods; juglans is derived from jovis glans, meaning
the nut of Jupiter, the king of the gods. In Autumn, when the leaves are
golden and the walnuts begin to crash down on my metal roof, it can feel like
the gods are having something of a temper tantrum. Some people hate the trees
for this and cut them away from their homes. I learned a long time ago neither
to quarrel with nor dismiss the gods. They are usually up to something beyond
mortal understanding. Although there has been many a night when the walnuts
have awakened me from a deep sleep, a crash, bang, causing me to bolt upright
in bed, I adore them still. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>I adore them sufficiently to want to grow their company. In
large bushel baskets, I collect all of the nuts that fall in the driveway and
on the decks. I then walk the thresholds, tossing the nuts to their destiny at the
edges of my farm’s woods and meadow, along the stream courses, and at roadside,
wherever they will be able to get sufficient moisture and light. If it wasn’t
for my appreciation of their company, they wouldn’t be in this holler anymore.
Over the decades that preceded my arrival, loggers removed all but my parent
grove. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>I think I was in my late forties, maybe fifty, when the
second part of the dream came to me. It was short. This time, I wasn’t just
listening to the story. I was watching the young woman standing behind a
podium, speaking into a microphone, telling the story about her stepmother’s
gratitude. People were listening. People were feeling. It was a funeral. It was
my funeral. I had been the stepmother. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>There’s a certain delight that I feel when I look down and,
there before me, I see the first few inches of a young walnut sapling making
its way into the world. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: x-small;"><b>~ Jamie K. Reaser, Author</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: x-small;"><b>Published in RidgeLines: A View of Nature and Human Nature</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: x-small;"><b>Winner of the Nautilus Book Award gold medal for lyrical prose</b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: x-small;"><b>Feel free to share</b></span></div>
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<br />Jamie K. Reaserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08903854767881090380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5694268101289544904.post-86279310463127688192019-08-29T06:44:00.004-07:002019-08-29T06:44:31.582-07:00One Guinea for a Second Look<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9cdh8K-ye-AudzgyY9ihJ38UAHy5RX1e1wxSrpdNH0NtSPA8egJo6J-Qz7WGotbRJJWtrys75caLxTZxxvfuv1gr97UQ0ARMx77ZLmnbs62CYUq3DODXVvJud1hI8cNoOnF34ztEv8Rhp/s1600/MarkCollinsOneGuineafor2ndLook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="893" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9cdh8K-ye-AudzgyY9ihJ38UAHy5RX1e1wxSrpdNH0NtSPA8egJo6J-Qz7WGotbRJJWtrys75caLxTZxxvfuv1gr97UQ0ARMx77ZLmnbs62CYUq3DODXVvJud1hI8cNoOnF34ztEv8Rhp/s320/MarkCollinsOneGuineafor2ndLook.jpg" width="178" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Art: Mark Collins</b></span><br />
<a href="https://markcollinsfineart.com/"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><b>https://markcollinsfineart.com/</b></span></a><br />
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Their presence is unmistakable: <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>brightly colored, raucous flocks pecking<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>and dashing in collective frenzy across<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>dusty ground. They are of the day that<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>some god manifested, well, I don’t know. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>There are brilliant acts of creation and <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>there are accidents to be learned from. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Is the telling of either entirely truthful?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>~<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Life often requires us to take a second <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>glance at the obvious. His brushes thought<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>they were going to be doing something<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>ordinary, but they didn’t. As you can see.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>They never do. He’s incapable of observing<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>things in ordinary ways. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>The poet, she found herself wondering <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>about her dark days of awkwardness, there<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>was cackling, and what a gift they had turned <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>out to be. And, a word found her: delightful.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>~<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>So, these fowl birds. Let’s look again. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>If I focus, I can see the possibility <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>of beauty in everything.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>© 2019/Jamie K. Reaser<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>From a book collaboration in progress with artist Mark Collins</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Feel free to share</b></span></div>
<br />Jamie K. Reaserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08903854767881090380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5694268101289544904.post-86742302316513310582019-07-30T14:33:00.007-07:002019-07-30T14:34:31.184-07:00Close Quarters (One)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcGDYhlERJ0ECa6G6tTjI-mq77RcddHcCFREEnAAwCnu2DFgatuOLmB5RZ8BJOglB8AwXJZhzASSK6m5Tr57SrwWHht3Q7FkyTmX9HivNjrZlrQGYz-XN23Kkp50vUwPj4ChOObHOeBWq3/s1600/Close+Quarters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcGDYhlERJ0ECa6G6tTjI-mq77RcddHcCFREEnAAwCnu2DFgatuOLmB5RZ8BJOglB8AwXJZhzASSK6m5Tr57SrwWHht3Q7FkyTmX9HivNjrZlrQGYz-XN23Kkp50vUwPj4ChOObHOeBWq3/s320/Close+Quarters.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Art: Mark Collins</b></span><br />
<b style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">https://markcollinsfineart.com/</b><br />
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Things were fine in the nest cavity for awhile. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Specifically, when they were still in their eggs. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>But baby birds—these being Northern flickers <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>of the woodpecker family—grow fast and trees <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>don’t expand to accommodate. “Move over!” <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>“You move over!” “Where do you think I can <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>move to, exactly?” They found some respite <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>when the weather was good, poking their heads <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>out from the hole in the swaying pine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, oh, <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>how they wanted to learn to fly so that they<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>could get away from each other.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>“Good riddance!”<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>~<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>“Are we there yet?!”<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Whenever we made trips to visit the grandparents<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>my sisters and I would be confined for hours in <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>the back of Bessie, our white Buick station wagon. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Proximity did not make us closer. No. Quite <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>the opposite. Space was a limited resource worth <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>fighting for. “Move over!” “You move over!” <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>“Where do you think I can move to? Mom!”<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Although we didn’t choose to be together, we did,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>over time, share in a common antidotal strategy:<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>“I need to pee!”<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>~<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Find yourself an adult living in a metropolitan <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>environment and you’ll find yourself using public <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>transportation. Metro. Bus. It doesn’t matter. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>There is a sardine can—that you paid for and rushed<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>to board—awaiting you and hundreds of strangers <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>adorned with summer body odor and winter colds. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>“Excuse me, could you please move over?” “Huh? No.” <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>“Where do you think I can move to, exactly?” Ding.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Ding. The door opens wide and it’s every man, woman,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>and dragged-by-the-wrist child fleeing, thinking<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>some form of:<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>“Oh, thank God for liberty and independence!”<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>~<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>It’s not really that funny.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>There are seven billion people riding a finite <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>planet, all of them longing for intimacy.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>© 2019/Jamie K. Reaser<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>From a book collaboration in progress with artist Mark Collins</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Feel free to share</b></span></div>
<br />Jamie K. Reaserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08903854767881090380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5694268101289544904.post-8194458634198536932019-07-24T18:02:00.005-07:002021-09-26T05:31:20.249-07:00White Pines<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4HKH6K_cjlzABCUP4utl3IlI5E5kR9YQt0QpsCdPHgRX0F1MQ3F-4iF_11zSlvKOvDe1aYhX_VKOHYrEAaU2dVpZ3wlE_e0oSyMjMm7HBv4_Kz6UnyJfeIsJmUXsJXaq4q3pzjRwnT9Yh/s1600/DSCN9446B.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="922" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4HKH6K_cjlzABCUP4utl3IlI5E5kR9YQt0QpsCdPHgRX0F1MQ3F-4iF_11zSlvKOvDe1aYhX_VKOHYrEAaU2dVpZ3wlE_e0oSyMjMm7HBv4_Kz6UnyJfeIsJmUXsJXaq4q3pzjRwnT9Yh/s320/DSCN9446B.jpg" width="184" /></a></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Photo: (c) Jamie K. Reaser</b></span><br />
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>My little cabin is in what they call a holler. Here, the sun
is slower to arrive than on the ridges. I prefer to meet it there rather than
wait on the world’s slow turning. Greeting the day is ritual. No, it is more
than that, it is ceremony. The trees know this too, and I think also all those
shrubs beneath them and the vines that use them to reach up to the heavens.
Like me, climbing these mountains. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>Often, the deer watch me, branches as masks. Today, it was a
young white pine the doe chose. She didn’t know that I knew the fawn was beside
her, low in the dry stream bed, but I did. They walked on together and I,
alone. What do I make of the rabbits in the grassy meadows? How are there so
many, so complacent? Isn’t this fox-certainty, coyote-certainty wonderful in
the way that it teaches gratitude for clover and love of a moment?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>Back to the white pine. There aren’t many here. Not tall.
Not dense. Mostly, they are young and spindly. It’s like the artist had
forgotten them and then suddenly said, “Oh, pines! There must be pines.” Then
he—or she—fit them into the remaining spaces because they are deserving. Five
long needles each, that’s how I know they are white pines. Of course, there are
also the memories of buying them—white pines—for the dozen Christmases we were something
called a family. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>Once—well more than once—I sat with glorious children on a
faraway mountain watching the sunset and the stars arrive, confident and
twinkling. We counted them in three languages and sang songs that these same
stars had taught their ancestors out of necessity. I don’t remember the words,
but I remember the laughter and how the night sky was caught up in their eyes.
They didn’t know darkness like I know darkness. I prayed they never would.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>A walk isn’t finished until the walker has acknowledged at
least one great vulnerability and discovered something to be grateful for. I’m
not talking about the pines. I am saying that maybe we should be more like
artists, rabbits, and our ancestors’ children.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d; font-size: x-small;"><b>~ Jamie K. Reaser, Author<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d; font-size: x-small;"><b>Published in "Conversations with Mary: Words of Attention and Devotion"</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d; font-size: x-small;"><b>Winner of the Nautilus Book Award gold medal for poetry</b></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d; font-size: x-small;"><b>Feel free to share</b></span></div>
<br />Jamie K. Reaserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08903854767881090380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5694268101289544904.post-73602003911395662212019-07-20T05:17:00.005-07:002019-07-20T05:17:41.424-07:00What's the Vision?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXU9SO8nz0DoE0_RSAsLkXuDrost-QSmxQ5OEJvgkAFzABlN-QTaaAlsAnkBHi2la2aqOz-ugaDD8Aat-ybQz-8qyAd6VfvfhOP-aLqyM7uSz-WOeVhjRl2V9Eh1d-A-fnutcrDyXZu3ij/s1600/DSCN2081.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXU9SO8nz0DoE0_RSAsLkXuDrost-QSmxQ5OEJvgkAFzABlN-QTaaAlsAnkBHi2la2aqOz-ugaDD8Aat-ybQz-8qyAd6VfvfhOP-aLqyM7uSz-WOeVhjRl2V9Eh1d-A-fnutcrDyXZu3ij/s320/DSCN2081.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Photo: (c) Jamie K. Reaser</b></span><br />
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<b style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">What’s the vision? What do you want so see?</b></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What happens when there isn’t an answer?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What happens when you’ve lost the trail<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>and your sense of destiny?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>If you don’t like it, that’s fine. I don’t like it
either,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>some things need to change, but resistance isn’t<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>an agent, it’s one act. If you stop something from<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>going there, you need to decide where you want<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>it to go instead. Where? Where are we going<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>instead?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Sometimes things need to fall apart. I do sometimes.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>It’s the only way to let go and grow. Ask the
caterpillars<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>on the wilting pipevine or the tadpole in the puddle on <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>the hottest day of the year. Something beckons for<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>an ending that’s worth all the risks in the world.
There’s<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>another form to be instead.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What’s the vision? What do you want so see?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What happens when there isn’t an answer?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What happens when you’ve lost the trail<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>and your sense of destiny?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>I hear your anger and frustration. I hear the silence<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>of overwhelm. I hear your pleading for this to stop,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>for it to go away. And, that’s okay. No is a worthy<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>word when its time has justly come. But, yes must<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>know where and when to arrive and how to map<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>the way, somewhere.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What’s the vision? What do you want so see?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What happens when there isn’t an answer?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What happens when you’ve lost the trail and<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>your sense of destiny?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>I’ve been listening for an answer, but no one seems<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>to know that there’s a question. I see you standing<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>up. I see you sitting down. I see you lying in the way.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Good! And, then? Where are we going? Where are<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>all of us going? How do we play follow the leader<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>like this? It’s not the way I remember. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What’s the vision? What do you want so see?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What happens when there isn’t an answer?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What happens when you’ve lost the trail and<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>your sense of destiny?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What’s the vision? What do you want so see?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What happens when there isn’t an answer?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What happens when you’ve lost the trail and<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>your sense of destiny?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>© 2019/Jamie K. Reaser<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>From "The Song Book" (a work in progress)</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Feel free to share</b></span>Jamie K. Reaserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08903854767881090380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5694268101289544904.post-19889940258546587972019-07-13T17:41:00.005-07:002021-08-28T08:19:56.677-07:00A Day Not As Planned<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoOG9l_3I0vKUEuOey5bwUR4qx0dSmvRvasqrkHRYPeygrWdvABltMduHIGg1vKx-F4hZo05SPEd-dxMgnH6PvbY0rpgqZnWEj2Iv7RtG6WCHSD6HUOb2t2RIxJROP0y6ju7ON7su3TsOM/s1600/DSCN8888.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoOG9l_3I0vKUEuOey5bwUR4qx0dSmvRvasqrkHRYPeygrWdvABltMduHIGg1vKx-F4hZo05SPEd-dxMgnH6PvbY0rpgqZnWEj2Iv7RtG6WCHSD6HUOb2t2RIxJROP0y6ju7ON7su3TsOM/s320/DSCN8888.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Photo: (c) Jamie K. Reaser</b></span><br />
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>I had planned accordingly, been<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>willing to commit body and mind <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>to the long list, but:<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>At the farmers’ market there<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>were familiar faces with names<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>I know, words to exchange<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>about possibilities and how the<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>rain has made the eggplant<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>grow larger than anticipated or <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>desired. Communing takes time, <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>especially when hugs are involved <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>and here they are, most certainly.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>There were turtles: two.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>One in a puddle in my driveway<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>with a nasty infection that needed <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>tending, so I drove him all the way <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>over the mountain to vets who <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>understand that all beings are worthy,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>And the other spinning on its back<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>just west of the yellow lines. Though<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>I stopped, hopeful, there was nothing<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>left to do but offer prayers and a<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>ramshackle body to something that <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>might show up, hungry, in the roadside<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>shrubbery. It wasn’t joyful, but it<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>called for time.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>And, I had to fix a watch that broke<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>in the night. Two in two months!<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>I think the Universe is trying to tell<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>me something, but what could it<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>be?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>So then, just as I was going to get back<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>to the list, a friend said, “Come by!”<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>And, I did, and we sat for a bit <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>contemplating how every act can be <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>a perfect act. What an interesting day,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>I thought. I’m perfectly accomplishing<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>nothing.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>But, as the light dimmed and the temperature<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>became more cordial, I thought now, now<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>I’ll get something done. It was then <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>that I realized the day had written a poem <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b>and it was going to need some time.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: x-small;"><b>~ Jamie K. Reaser, Author<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: x-small;"><b>From "Truth and Beauty: Poems on the Nature of Our Humanity"</b></span><br />
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: x-small;"><b>Feel free to share</b></span><br />
<br />Jamie K. Reaserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08903854767881090380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5694268101289544904.post-11019409799027930952019-07-09T05:27:00.004-07:002019-07-09T05:27:33.579-07:00A Summer Moment<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhafgszFFSDbBxiDSba_LDOmhP-t6L9WhyphenhyphenKcALZQRdcVewlNggx6RrRme_NZZzYNw9pxGL21_i4oH6hyphenhyphenlxBUz1Tq0V2F0e_YJoGZX8VdAoAhjRy7CNHPkpalBmJhtmtq9aiag-LoiJUFsV_/s1600/DSCN6885.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhafgszFFSDbBxiDSba_LDOmhP-t6L9WhyphenhyphenKcALZQRdcVewlNggx6RrRme_NZZzYNw9pxGL21_i4oH6hyphenhyphenlxBUz1Tq0V2F0e_YJoGZX8VdAoAhjRy7CNHPkpalBmJhtmtq9aiag-LoiJUFsV_/s320/DSCN6885.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Photo: (c) Jamie K. Reaser</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Summer resides at the confluence<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>of rushing to be and utter stillness.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>We must bloom. We must rest.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>And, at some point, there is <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>a moment in which blooming<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>and resting are indistinguishable.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Our lives have summers. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>© 2019/Jamie K. Reaser<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>From "Truth and Beauty" (a work in progress)</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Feel free to share</b></span></div>
<br />Jamie K. Reaserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08903854767881090380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5694268101289544904.post-49643322952535640842019-06-21T04:38:00.005-07:002021-06-20T05:28:14.817-07:00Summer: Day One<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYalvadDtKztEbCAGQhMIUtgtG8HHgLrdcJ1KYMmZgsbCBHC2Qu4IBalEwJffvBZ1yaQI13iyetUil8-7ilwDOTiB5b2Fzkw1Nn36-bq0wm7Uw31GLU3XXz5PFeiFHhn4XAc_N9aiYuyJq/s1600/DSCN6505.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYalvadDtKztEbCAGQhMIUtgtG8HHgLrdcJ1KYMmZgsbCBHC2Qu4IBalEwJffvBZ1yaQI13iyetUil8-7ilwDOTiB5b2Fzkw1Nn36-bq0wm7Uw31GLU3XXz5PFeiFHhn4XAc_N9aiYuyJq/s320/DSCN6505.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Photo: (c) Jamie K. Reaser</b></span><br />
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>That old stray dog, Grief, had been following<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>at my heels, hoping for a home in which to <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>rest his weary self, but today is the first day <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>of summer and he’s gone off somewhere. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>Still, there’s plenty of company for me. It seems<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>that everything is a breathing thing, in some<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>way of breathing. Me too, finally.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>What color is summer?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>What does summer smell like?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>And, sound?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>I know its touch: humidity. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>You’ll never hear me complain about that <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>beaded caress. I wonder how anyone could go <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>on alone in a world in which even the air offers <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>an unmistakable embrace.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>So, this is it, I suppose, the beginning of this year’s <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>expression of Joy: nectar-sweet shades of red <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>exclaimed. She is scampering along, leading<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>the way. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: x-small;"><b>~ Jamie K. Reaser, Author</b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: x-small;"><b>From "Truth and Beauty: Poems of the Nature of Our Humanity"</b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: x-small;"><b>Feel free to share</b></span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />Jamie K. Reaserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08903854767881090380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5694268101289544904.post-39897427452175372019-06-18T04:48:00.004-07:002019-06-18T04:48:37.693-07:00Cherry Gobbler<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOjYDl9xH-XuSrbe3CYyhUCr-Ne9jjDbLvli_2Q-mvP5rJ2rSb8hqieuNQtJFAOAlj4NksNsMjftUmT77s_35HLLMBKD9HIO6HCEQrMXjHuYl9xRTDv-r9f6TpZ-BGEIEbsaoEHwXTszMQ/s1600/Cherry+Gobbler.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1033" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOjYDl9xH-XuSrbe3CYyhUCr-Ne9jjDbLvli_2Q-mvP5rJ2rSb8hqieuNQtJFAOAlj4NksNsMjftUmT77s_35HLLMBKD9HIO6HCEQrMXjHuYl9xRTDv-r9f6TpZ-BGEIEbsaoEHwXTszMQ/s320/Cherry+Gobbler.jpg" width="206" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Art: Mark Collins</b></span><br />
<a href="https://markcollinsfineart.com/"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><b>https://markcollinsfineart.com/</b></span></a><br />
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>If you live where bears live, like I do,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>you learn to look up to them. That is to say<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>that you learn to respect them, yes. But<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>it is also to say that you learn that they<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>are up there, high in the canopy, on thin <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>limbs, fattening themselves on sweetness.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Once I was hiking on a mountain ridgetop<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>and a cherry tree, it seemed, threw four black<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>bears at me: a momma and her triplets. Crash, <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>bang, boom, and boom again. It seemed like<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>a ridiculous moment and, so, I laughed as <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>they scampered away in great bewilderment <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>of my sudden, and it must have seemed<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>dangerous, arrival.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>I called out: “If you’d stayed in the tree, I <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>wouldn’t have known you were here!” It<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>seemed like they needed to be informed <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>of the obvious.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>And, so, that was the moment when I learned<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>to look up to bears. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>© 2019/Jamie K. Reaser<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>From a book collaboration in progress with artist Mark Collins</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Feel free to share</b></span>Jamie K. Reaserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08903854767881090380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5694268101289544904.post-45066413507830167002019-06-14T04:43:00.002-07:002021-05-13T05:18:16.669-07:00Faith (Two)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdKwbELtSm1vx5r05OTMQGsxXMiPbtmCy5AFd_gEvXQSjLR1KS6paX-EQjWJBvjgnv29kvEqvhdLjydp0n4F0SDpmTLG4b_8BJl3ILrSNBJg_eZG_FQwaE96dEbyOced1dBgYpZWAw0p5E/s1600/DSCN6773B.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdKwbELtSm1vx5r05OTMQGsxXMiPbtmCy5AFd_gEvXQSjLR1KS6paX-EQjWJBvjgnv29kvEqvhdLjydp0n4F0SDpmTLG4b_8BJl3ILrSNBJg_eZG_FQwaE96dEbyOced1dBgYpZWAw0p5E/s320/DSCN6773B.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Photo: (c) Jamie K. Reaser</b></span><br />
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>We are born onto this earth <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>of body. None of us has our<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>feet beneath us. When the<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>time comes to stand, there<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>arises the expectation that <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>we will wobble on shaky legs, <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>stumble, and fall. And, too<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>that we will regain our footing<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>for the next step. There <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>arrives faith. Unknowingly,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b>it is ours.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<o:p><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d;"><b><br /></b></span></o:p></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d; font-size: x-small;"><b>~ Jamie K. Reaser, Author<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d; font-size: x-small;"><b>From "Truth and Beauty" (a work in progress)</b></span><br />
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #93c47d; font-size: x-small;"><b>Feel free to share</b></span>Jamie K. Reaserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08903854767881090380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5694268101289544904.post-20977968268173036832019-06-09T07:48:00.004-07:002021-06-13T04:56:19.153-07:00When the Dark Clouds<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Photo: (c) Jamie K. Reaser</b></span><br />
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b style="background-color: black;">When the dark clouds lay thick<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b style="background-color: black;">before you and the wind has<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b style="background-color: black;">lifted your hair and taken it<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b style="background-color: black;">someplace wild, do nothing.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b style="background-color: black;">Be no one known.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b style="background-color: black;">What has happened is moving<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b style="background-color: black;">on to new horizons. What remains<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b style="background-color: black;">are the desires withstood and<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b style="background-color: black;">all the unfinishedness that will<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b style="background-color: black;">see you through to the next day.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9;"><b style="background-color: black;"><br /></b></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: black; color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif; font-size: small;">~ Jamie K. Reaser, Author</b></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #a2c4c9; font-size: x-small;"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"><b>From "Truth and Beauty: Poems on the Nature of Our Humanity"</b></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></div>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: x-small;"><b style="background-color: black;">Feel free to share</b></span></div>
</div>
</div>
Jamie K. Reaserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08903854767881090380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5694268101289544904.post-3467810106915629632019-06-08T10:47:00.003-07:002019-06-08T10:48:00.176-07:00The Creator<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1UR5XezzQG1bVdlm7pSOmjXLmUljNcG6PkMc7C9CP3uaabCr9ItTBmBXyd3GH85vzOQbR3So-MzedEacWmzPoKYd0Q4FUAfFF5LUS6RxKl10yFysRrhnIFo1HJErv9FO_f_axZ75gVrZj/s1600/5cc075073e4d1.image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1UR5XezzQG1bVdlm7pSOmjXLmUljNcG6PkMc7C9CP3uaabCr9ItTBmBXyd3GH85vzOQbR3So-MzedEacWmzPoKYd0Q4FUAfFF5LUS6RxKl10yFysRrhnIFo1HJErv9FO_f_axZ75gVrZj/s320/5cc075073e4d1.image.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Photo: (c) The Daily Progress</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What
we bring into existence is <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>a
celebration of the Spirit that moves<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>us
into and through this short-lived<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>world.
May it be joyful. And, may it<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>learn
from joylessness to be<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>joyful
still. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Don’t
waste your time here my<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>dears.
Don’t give it over to another.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>There’s
something to be done<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>with
it that is beautiful, that praises,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>that
brings Heaven to Earth and<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Earth
to Heaven. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Be
the creator. Adorn your life.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Adorn
Life. Use your hands as the canvas <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>and
as the worker of the canvas. We<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>must
have brushes with life that break<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>the
heart and mend it just so much.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>I’m
telling you to do things that others<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>might
find daring and dismissable. So,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>be
stubborn about it if you have to. You<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>must
attend to the Divine in your own way.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Don’t
negotiate your soul’s longings.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Once
I biked across the great terrain of pain<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>in
little more than shorts and a halter top,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>but,
dear Lord, so much came of it and<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>still
remains a manifest blessing. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>I’m
asking you to be true to what draws forth <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>smiles
and laughter, to that which cherishes <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>and
honors relationship. That’s the communion. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>That’s
what creates belonging and restores faith <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>when
imperfections teach us about our humanity. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>I
think there is something too to be said about <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>singing,
about how we use our voices to rejoice. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>We
shouldn’t get comfortable with being off key.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>We
must keep asking ourselves to align with<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>notes
that are true to the heart’s intent, and<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>to
that which inspires the heart. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>The
same can be said about the way we play<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>and
about being stylish. Every act is an act<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>of
worship, or it should be. Why be subtle about <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>it
or satisfied with indifference? There should be<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>expectations
of glory. The Creator never does<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>away
with his good creation. Why not? Because<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>it’s
no longer his. Good creations are claimed <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>away
from us. They have things to do. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>That’s
gospel. That’s what there is to teach. And,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>it’s
with our lives that we do the teaching. So,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>with
all that said, I’m going to leave you with <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>this:
<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Even
in our most brokenness, the choices<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>are
always ours to make. May at least one of them <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>be
about a love that goes on creating.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Hmmm.</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>©
2019/Jamie K. Reaser<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>In
celebration of Eloise Gardiner Giles<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>June
9, 1921 to April 16, 2019</b></span><span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Feel free to share</b></span></span></div>
<br />Jamie K. Reaserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08903854767881090380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5694268101289544904.post-60538861572301606732019-05-27T18:00:00.006-07:002019-10-07T19:22:39.472-07:00Wings<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0UXv8Bpsad75YcUatCqM47yIeBD-Cv2VeZvBLs6UlVKzMFnmUA6B601WQULCyOeKVp-YiG1Xr_aSSaqiGmn9W70CwvGsBjSQ-m3Q8fNgnkudo9Xnek4OFUx8ryyf9TiUum2GDg3T7gPlm/s1600/DSCN5670.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0UXv8Bpsad75YcUatCqM47yIeBD-Cv2VeZvBLs6UlVKzMFnmUA6B601WQULCyOeKVp-YiG1Xr_aSSaqiGmn9W70CwvGsBjSQ-m3Q8fNgnkudo9Xnek4OFUx8ryyf9TiUum2GDg3T7gPlm/s320/DSCN5670.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Photo: (c) Jamie K. Reaser</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Who are we on the other side <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>of ourselves when nothing <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>is recognizable?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>I had names, places, and <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>stories. They seemed like<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>important things, then.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>What love outlasts loss?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>What love emerges after<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>it all?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>The very same feet that are<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>walking away are walking<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>toward, something.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Oh, but there are these<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>wings.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>© 2019/Jamie K. Reaser<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>From "Truth and Beauty" (a work in progress)</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Feel free to share</b></span></div>
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Jamie K. Reaserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08903854767881090380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5694268101289544904.post-9935260131086507072019-05-25T04:24:00.003-07:002019-05-25T04:24:50.092-07:00Get Your Feet Wet<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUwLrlTXbLQvj2TwK9TpMEd7R9RTr-5SSZh_lurKWziRVpuaivO17uPAVdqxa_qJ4rVabetm1DLC3G1gv6LAgRgzl1Lkw-_LDH5qrQDIs9Zs5Eolld4KZAzc4fmfk7FCe6pROLQ3rtS2R8/s1600/Get+your+feet+wet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1191" data-original-width="1600" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUwLrlTXbLQvj2TwK9TpMEd7R9RTr-5SSZh_lurKWziRVpuaivO17uPAVdqxa_qJ4rVabetm1DLC3G1gv6LAgRgzl1Lkw-_LDH5qrQDIs9Zs5Eolld4KZAzc4fmfk7FCe6pROLQ3rtS2R8/s320/Get+your+feet+wet.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Art: Mark Collins</b></span><br />
<a href="https://markcollinsfineart.com/"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><b>https://markcollinsfineart.com/</b></span></a><br />
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Life requires us to get our feet wet. It’s<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>an ongoing process, like it or not, of<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>trying something new and deciding <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>what it makes of us:<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>First steps<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>First words<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Peas<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>At some point, a first kiss.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>It’s an aspect of living. Actually, I think<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>it’s the difference between living and <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>living a life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>So, what does one make of a box turtle<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>standing in a big puddle left by days of rain?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Certainly, you can conclude, she knows that<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>she was designed to be a terrestrial thing. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>There are at least twenty-five years of <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>this understanding inscribed on her back.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>So, is it possible that she’s simply getting<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>her feet wet? Maybe she wanted to try on<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>what it’s like to be a pond turtle? Maybe<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>a duck? An otter, perhaps. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Good for her, I think.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>And, I also think, wouldn’t it be nice to<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>imagine that tomorrow she tries out <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>something else totally new to her?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Wild. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>I think she will. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>(c) 2019/Jamie K. Reaser</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>From a book collaboration in progress with artist Mark Collins</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Feel free to share</b></span>Jamie K. Reaserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08903854767881090380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5694268101289544904.post-77205182876635395672019-05-09T06:10:00.004-07:002020-05-14T06:43:23.880-07:00A Time to Rest<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4CloHpP1JeVa9XHsetM6YU7tY5W2GdDZlQ0ZzlO3d7Ik0yL9-xnD8G2QeYDcKfpjutL-G-OTfx5JYVGGLgsuehEI09zF10vUeaScfX6bEL4yO4RKO51J4X0m0HYq0WBcQDuDyqduuhQTI/s1600/A+time+to+rest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1020" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4CloHpP1JeVa9XHsetM6YU7tY5W2GdDZlQ0ZzlO3d7Ik0yL9-xnD8G2QeYDcKfpjutL-G-OTfx5JYVGGLgsuehEI09zF10vUeaScfX6bEL4yO4RKO51J4X0m0HYq0WBcQDuDyqduuhQTI/s320/A+time+to+rest.jpg" width="204" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Art: Mark Collins</b></span><br />
<a href="https://markcollinsfineart.com/"><span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><b>https://markcollinsfineart.com/</b></span></a><br />
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Her beak, tucked under thick wing.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Her eyes, shut to daylight.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>The spring-sweet magnolia and<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>hemlock boughs holding space.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>~<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>We must give ourselves permission to rest,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>to engage with the gentleness of spirit <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>that resides in that place between doing <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>and being. Softly. Shhhh. Quiet now.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Nothing is wrong. Let it alone. All of it. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>You have already been there and made <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>your way here. Let quietude provide <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>cover and be your attentiveness.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Here is exhaustion’s antidote.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Here is blessed resilience.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Here is the imagination looking<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>out and looking in for that which<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>will restore the whole heartedness<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>necessary for your next rising.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>I can promise you that there is something <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>alive in this black-lit void just waiting <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>for all of the other voices to fall silent so <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>that you will meet your next breath,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>and love yourself again. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>~<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>I didn’t disturb her, the owl.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>~ Jamie K. Reaser, Author<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>From a book collaboration project with artist Mark Collins</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>A Time to Rest was exhibited in the Leigh Yawkey Woodson </b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Art Museum’s 44<sup>th</sup> annual Birds in Art show</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Feel free to share</b></span></div>
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<br />Jamie K. Reaserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08903854767881090380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5694268101289544904.post-20529785465297640782019-04-30T18:21:00.004-07:002021-04-30T16:57:29.351-07:00When the Fires Dance<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT_pYL_4Bfw0B46au5WrCZ69TT1Hsw9h9L0JbuFwoB0YYEp9migk8jNI7mLhB2mebdLnugLb3AwSzRjmL2aVo4cZk70fSUWywAKLj8hCGwCpezMsfpC-JKKFDClyjAnIOXrFGcOcwQWvG5/s1600/lilac.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT_pYL_4Bfw0B46au5WrCZ69TT1Hsw9h9L0JbuFwoB0YYEp9migk8jNI7mLhB2mebdLnugLb3AwSzRjmL2aVo4cZk70fSUWywAKLj8hCGwCpezMsfpC-JKKFDClyjAnIOXrFGcOcwQWvG5/s320/lilac.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Photo: (c) Jamie K. Reaser</b></span><br />
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>When the fires dance, know<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>that I am the maiden skipping<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>round with lilac flowers in my <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>long hair. “Beloved, I am here”, is <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>my young body’s verse, innocent<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>of long days and dark nights.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>Dance with me. Welcome the<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>sun. Kiss the moon. Leaves<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>are on the branches and life<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>is rising. You, I’m calling to you.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>When the fires dance, know<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>that I am your sister in spirit <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>and practicality, hand in hand<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>weaving the ribbons that bind<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>us one to the other and all. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>How lovely this that we are.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>Dance with me. Welcome the<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>sun. Kiss the moon. Leaves<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>are on the branches and life<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>is rising. You, I’m calling to you.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>When the fires dance, know<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>that it is my face you see<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>in the shadows, heart turned <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>always toward the light. That<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>which flickers in illusion is <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>the future we live and share.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>So, dance with me. Welcome the<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>sun. Kiss the moon. Leaves<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>are on the branches and life<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>is rising. You, I’m calling to you.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>When the fires dance, know<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>that I am still among the flames,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>lifting into the next day. Never <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>does a soul rest that speaks <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>with truth’s tongue. Ears <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>must be prepared to listen<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>to beauty. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>Please, dance with me. Welcome <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>the sun. Kiss the moon. Leaves<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>are on the branches and life<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>is rising. You, I’m calling to you.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>Dance with me. Welcome the<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>sun. Kiss the moon. Leaves<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>are on the branches and life<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>is rising. You, I’m calling to you.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing"><b style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: small;">~ Jamie K. Reaser, Author</b></div>
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: x-small;"><b>From "The Song Book" (a work in progress)</b></span><br />
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: x-small;"><b>Feel free to share</b></span>Jamie K. Reaserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08903854767881090380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5694268101289544904.post-768102571221828322019-04-29T04:23:00.002-07:002020-04-25T15:15:12.512-07:00Waiting Patiently<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS9C4QXX1NZ9cc2gOKSCGoAFt0GukzYM3d26wawpTgVzLCSEzNGvue5t7gI8y9CuXDvnCy4uouBNYmTjTQc6q7r3CnGcUo_26h516SZx8quPD_7tVP54y58AL0MmdlaiB_y5h7iVOU4_9b/s1600/WaitingPatiently.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="766" data-original-width="1600" height="153" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS9C4QXX1NZ9cc2gOKSCGoAFt0GukzYM3d26wawpTgVzLCSEzNGvue5t7gI8y9CuXDvnCy4uouBNYmTjTQc6q7r3CnGcUo_26h516SZx8quPD_7tVP54y58AL0MmdlaiB_y5h7iVOU4_9b/s320/WaitingPatiently.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Art: Mark Collins</b></span><br />
<a href="https://markcollinsfineart.com/"><span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><b>https://markcollinsfineart.com/</b></span></a><br />
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Patience comes to those who have learned<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>the value of a thing: a seed or a beloved.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>It’s some set of bones saying, <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>“I know your worth,”<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>and never stepping back from the heart’s <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>placement on what could be but isn’t, yet.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>In this hurried world, patience is a living<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>life declaring:<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>“There is something dear to wait for, <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>to still for. I will. I am. Until the time is right, <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>and then—oh, my deep desire.”<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>~<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>The cardinal happened to be on a branch above <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>the feeder, looking down, waiting patiently,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>but he could have been there watching the love <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>of his life, below, scratching in old oak leaf litter,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>not yet aware of their springtime unfolding. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Would it have mattered? I couldn’t have<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>faulted him for either:<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Black oil sunflowers<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Anticipated devotion<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>~<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>What’s interesting to me about patience <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>is how an act of nothingness prepares something <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>yet unclaimed to take full possession of us.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Patience is the slow welcoming of our singular <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>demise. Oh, excruciating bliss! <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Sigh.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>So, how much longer will it be before your <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>lips know reward?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>~ Jamie K. Reaser, Author<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>From a book collaboration in progress with artist Mark Collins</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Feel free to share</b></span></div>
<br />Jamie K. Reaserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08903854767881090380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5694268101289544904.post-61434036806032049692019-04-13T16:51:00.006-07:002021-04-02T05:48:17.307-07:00Custom Builder<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmHY4_FGlZjE9Epi2__kGuUqXz6JXETLCZ8dMnjAv61tACQkzPBHoV6OZ5h3kv3a30ORugUe27fbY_LDirHfq1rv5qfvN8GR7agQOyu2b8SrGPLgrrEHcIKqo_UxulKSUS2g0irs4D1dc0/s1600/BCardCustomBuilder.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1140" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmHY4_FGlZjE9Epi2__kGuUqXz6JXETLCZ8dMnjAv61tACQkzPBHoV6OZ5h3kv3a30ORugUe27fbY_LDirHfq1rv5qfvN8GR7agQOyu2b8SrGPLgrrEHcIKqo_UxulKSUS2g0irs4D1dc0/s320/BCardCustomBuilder.jpg" width="228" /></a></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Art: Mark Collins</b></span><br />
<a href="https://markcollinsfineart.com/"><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"><b>https://markcollinsfineart.com/</b></span></a><br />
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>My soul was carefully constructed <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>of two opposing forces. One that <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>wants to nest, to tend a place of <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>otherness, the other to fly freely, <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>everywhere, endlessly.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>One can travel, but a suitcase does<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>not a nest make. One can hope to<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>nest, but some longings, alas, don’t<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>land with the same capacities that <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>desires take flight.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>The robin in the pine with last season’s<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>grasses clumped and streaming from<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>her beak is nesting. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I adore this. I adore<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>my memories of robin nests discovered:<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>The deep, mud-fiber bowls that hold<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>beautiful sky-blue eggs, maybe five, then <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>cheeping nestlings that beg for parental<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>deliveries all day long, then nothingness.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>The robin is common, yes.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>Springtime nesting is predictable, yes.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>Yet, there is always magic, yes. Always.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>As a child I was told that somewhere,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>out there, there resides a great custom<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>builder.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>All my life, I’ve wondered:<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>Does he have a plan for me and,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>if so, is it ordinary enough to become<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8;"><b>something magical?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: x-small;"><b>~ Jamie K. Reaser, Author<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: x-small;"><b>From a book collaboration with artist Mark Collins</b></span><br />
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: x-small;"><b>Feel free to share</b></span>Jamie K. Reaserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08903854767881090380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5694268101289544904.post-89035775611213719242019-04-04T04:47:00.003-07:002019-04-04T04:47:26.645-07:00My Mother's Hands<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVmfBmSZimmWWdn5QyE53F7QR3YUILbmdgZ8EnUSltBlUoNr3QHkkPjW38xGw0uhLF_etAP1mSgz_N4IuvQ5Mr1Ql2euHKF33Mb4Qlcit9M_6v4nTd3sd9y7J8eFyMZ6erAw67uajjwWvW/s1600/DSCN4017B.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="734" data-original-width="1600" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVmfBmSZimmWWdn5QyE53F7QR3YUILbmdgZ8EnUSltBlUoNr3QHkkPjW38xGw0uhLF_etAP1mSgz_N4IuvQ5Mr1Ql2euHKF33Mb4Qlcit9M_6v4nTd3sd9y7J8eFyMZ6erAw67uajjwWvW/s320/DSCN4017B.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Photo: (c) Jamie K. Reaser</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Today, I was looking down at my mother’s hands,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>dry, crinkled, mapped out in wrinkles, veins as <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>meandering blood lines, literal and metaphoric.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>I hadn’t before valued them. What they had touched<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>and held, what they had pulled toward, what they <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>had pushed away. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>I remember, when a young woman, gently lifting <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>and guiding the gold ring from her index finger mere<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>moments after she took her last breath. I thought <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>about putting it on today, but I know that it won’t fit.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>But, here are her hands.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>© 2019/Jamie K. Reaser<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>From "Truth and Beauty" (a work in progress)</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Feel free to share</b></span>Jamie K. Reaserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08903854767881090380noreply@blogger.com0