Wild Words: Ferociously Nourishing Poetry

The Scripture of Circle

1/30/2022

For the month of January, Wild Words
explored the relationship between
our internal and external landscapes as we
remember and dream a new world.

One song: Vision by Ashana
and five poems by:
Brooke McNamara, Vaclav Havel,
Mary Oliver, D.H. Lawrence and Maya Luna

See below for an opportunity
to be enveloped by Grace
in Teotihuacan, Mexico this April

Female Strength by Helena Arturaleza Schotman

There is no refuge
No destination
No resolution
Only This

Blessed are the fruit of my womb
Blessed are the cycles that have no end
Blessed is the Wound
Blessed is the Hole

Blessed is the space that holds you always
Blessed is this unfinished life
Blessed is the eternal and unchanging
Blessed are we who bear the unbearable
who carry our cross from first to last breath

Blessed are we who know the relentless mercy of the
Mysterious Other
known only when we sacrifice our reaching

There is no refuge
No destination
No resolution
Only This

To you who are the Birther of Samsara
and the doorway to Nirvana
To you whose Love
is the bridge that flows between them
To you who holds the mirror of perfection
inside the crack of imperfection
whose Road leads nowhere and is everywhere

To you whose breast is the refuge of no refuge
To you whose passion dissolves all ignorance
and whose innocence reveals unstained beauty

Enveloped by your Grace
With nowhere to go
Around and around
Heart to the Ground

Here
I
am

-Maya Luna

Come to Teotihuacan to experience
the relentless mercy of the Mysterious Other

I am looking to gather a group of men and women who have a deep desire to stay fully present and curious during this particular time in history. We stand on a threshold of the Great Mystery wondering: What’s next? How and where do I fit into this profound shift in human consciousness? I said Yes to being here now, but what exactly did I say Yes to doing?

Teotihuacan has been a University of Spirit for tens of thousands of years. It is one of the magical places on earth where old souls have gathered again and again to realign and ignite. Most significantly it has been a sacred destination during times when human constructs are being dismantled and human consciousness evolving. We journey to Teotihuacan to remember that blessed are the endless cycles that have no end. There is only this.

The magic of Teo lies in its pulsating frequencies. It is alive! Divine Feminine energy erupted there in 2012, and today Divine Feminine and Masculine energies dance in powerful harmony—in the pyramids and caves—not so subtle imagery!

The pyramids are solid, directed, spiraling energies that reach up into the cosmos. The dark caves underneath them are filled with what shamans call black light—the same vibrant mysterious energies of creation found in black holes in space. Teotihuacan’s earth wombs are one of the few places on our planet where we find such intense concentrations of black light.

The powerful attunement of the towering pyramids in harmony with the deep caves offers us a rare opportunity to recalibrate and rejuvenate, to experience embodied coherence of our being and doing energies. Heart to the Ground.

So, listen… Is Teotihuacan calling to you? Teo has watched the rise and fall of human civilizations over and over again, around and around. It has ancient wisdom to share, as well as much needed energetic realignment during this mystifying time in history. Dream with me into the realm of infinite possibilities! Perhaps it is time to prioritize the necessary and transformative shift from an external focus on chaotic personal and world events to an internal focus on what you said yes to in this life time. Here...I...am.

Besides ceremonies in the sacred sites, we have a lot of fun on these journeys! Laughter, relaxation, art, a sweat lodge, music and poetry plunges, delicious and healthy food, meeting local artists, comfortable lodging, bathing in the colorful beauty of Mexico, and more!

Trip details can be found on my website: https://www.guideforconscioushealing.com/trips--retreats.html or feel free to call me at (707) 787-7772 with questions or concerns.

Everything I Have is Also Yours

12/26/2021

The World. Painting by Shauna Crandall

There are so many gifts still unopened from your
birthday. There are so many hand-crafted presents
that have been sent to your door by God.

The Beloved does not mind repeating, "Everything I
have is also yours."

So forgive Hafiz and the Friend if we break into a
sweet laughter when your heart complains of being
thirsty . . . when ages ago, every cell in your
body capsized forever into His infinite golden sea.

A lover's pain is like holding one's breath too long
in the middle of a vital performance, in the middle
of one of Creation's favorite songs.

Indeed, a lover's pain is this sleeping, this sleeping
when God just rolled over and gave you such a big
good-morning smooch.

There are so many gifts still unopened from your
soul's birthday. There are so many hand-crafted
presents that have been sent into your life by God.

And the Beloved does not mind at all repeating,

"Everything I have is also yours."

- Hafiz, trans. by Daniel Ladinsky

Tethered

12/12/2021

Huangshan, China. Photo by Maria Hernandez Gamarra.

The other day, our grandbaby Skipper
held on to her brother Mack, uncertain
of anyone less familiar, held on

like a weasel to her prey,
her teeth sunk into his shoulder,
reminiscent of a burdock seed on a sock

or a limpet on a rock--how
desperately I hold on
to what I'm already held by--tethered

like wave to water, sand grain to
beach, breath to air, held
by arms I can never

fall out of, and still, I cling
to the cliff, as if the ground
weren't what my feet are made of.

- Chuck Madansky

Chuck Madansky has gifted the world with his new book
Some Days the Spoons Talk Back.
https://chuckmadansky.com/contact-2/
or click on the book above to order.
Beautiful cover artwork by Cindy Wood
www.cindywoodart.com

Holy Fire

11/7/2021

Painting by Erica Grimm Vance

Slow down....inside
I am right here
I am not where you are going
I am the place you leave to find me

I am Holy Fire
Do you trust me?

I am the One who makes your heart beat
and every heart beat
I am the Portal to the indescribable flame within you
I am every longing you have ever felt
and every passion you have ever suppressed

I am Aliveness
Open
Allow
Be danced
Do you trust me?

If you want to know bliss
to feel passion burn
You must become available
to be astonished and amazed
by the simplest things

Notice the way when you wiggle your toes
a tendril of joy quietly sprouts inside your chest

Notice how you can run your fingertips
on the edges of your skin
and rivers of desire become instantly fulfilled

You can take one single breath
and watch your body explode in gratitude for living

Then you can exhale and melt into the Great Fire
of life's fertile emptiness

You are the Portal

It costs nothing....except
everything you have ever dreamed you are

Your dissatisfaction is a dream
Your disappointment is a dream

I am right here
I have always been right here
It really is this innocent
Savor me
Enter me
Ignite

- a compilation of poetry excerpts by Maya Luna

Enlightenment is a Gamble

10/3/2021

Time to cash in your chips
put your ideas and beliefs on the table.
See who has the bigger hand
you or the Mystery that pervades you.

Time to scrape the mind's shit
off your shoes
undo the laces
that hold your prison together
and dangle your toes into emptiness.

Once you've put everything
on the table
once all of your currency is gone
and your pockets are full of air
all you've got left to gamble with
is yourself.

Go ahead, climb up onto the velvet top
of the highest stakes table.
Place yourself as the bet.
Look God in the eyes
and finally
for once in your life
lose.

- Adyashanti

Smooching

9/26/2021

Smooching Quetzalpetlatl
Teotihuacan Mexico, September 2021

One regret, dear world, that I am determined not to have
when I am lying on my deathbed is that
I did not kiss you enough.

There is a disease I know, it is called: being too serious.

Don't worry, you won't catch it from my poems.

I let eloquence have its say, and wisdom too and
mirth, for they can be needed companions as you
navigate this dimension and others.

Wherever you have dreamed of going, I have camped
there, and left firewood for when you arrive.

Try this someday: When you are packing or moving
any simple object around--imagine your Beloved's

hand--as yours. And it then might become thus, if just
for a second.

But a wondrous, true moment like that would be
enough for the integration to begin,

the meld of you and light . . . and then the smooching,
the wild smooching all the time. Why not?

- Hafiz, trans. by Daniel Ladinsky

In Praise of Four Letter Words

8/22/2021

Sculpture by Paige Bradley

We yell shit
when the egg carton slips
and the ivory globes
splatter on blue tile.
And when someone leaves you
bruised as a dropped pear, you spit
that fucker, fucking bastard, motherfucker.
And if you just got fired, the puppy
swallowed a two-inch nail, or
your daughter needs another surgery,
you might walk around murmuring
fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck
under your breath like reciting a rosary.

Cock and cunt — we spew them out
as though they were offal,
as though that vulnerable
bare skin of the penis, that swaying it does
like a slender reed in a pond, the vulva
with its delicate mauve or taupe
or cinnamon fluted petals were the worst
things we know. You’d think we despise
the way they slide together,
can’t bear all those nerves
bunched up close as angels
seething on the head of a pin.

And suck, our yes
to the universe, first hunger, whole
mammalian tribe of damp newborns
held in contempt for the urgent rooting,
the nubbly feel of the nipple in the mouth,
fine spray on the soft palate.

What does it mean
to bring another’s body
into our body, whether through our mouth
or that other mouth — to be taken in?
When life cracks us
like a broken tooth,
when it wears us down
like the tread of old tires,
when it creeps over us
like shower mold, isn’t this
what we cry for?

Maybe all that shouting
is shouting to God, to the universe,
to anyone who can hear us.
In lockdown within our own skins
we’re banging on the bars with tin spoons,
screaming in the only language strong
enough to convey the shock
of our shameful need. Fuck! --
we look around us in terrified amazement --
Goddamn! Goddamn! Holy shit!

- Ellen Bass

Don't Surrender Your Loneliness

8/8/2021

Sculpture by Victor Hugo Castaneda

Don't surrender your loneliness so quickly
Let it cut more deep
Let it ferment and season you as few human
or even divine ingredients can.

Something missing in my heart tonight
has made my eyes so soft,
my voice so tender,
my need for God absolutely clear.

- Hafiz, trans. by Daniel Ladinsky

Life's Longing for Itself

7/25/2021

In honor of Silas, my first-born child,
who leaves home this week
to heed Life's calling...

Your children are not your children.
They are sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you.
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The Archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the Archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He also loves the bow that is stable.

- Kahlil Gibran

A Tendency to Shine, for Summer Solstice

6/20/2021

Coatlaxopeuh: She who comes flying
from the region of light like an eagle on fire
a.k.a. Lady G
a.k.a. You!

If you prefer smoke over fire
then get up now and leave.
For I do not intend to perfume
your mind's clothing
with more sooty knowledge.
No, I have something else in mind.

Today I hold a flame in my left hand
and a sword in my right.
There will be no damage control today.

For God is in a mood
to plunder your riches and
fling you nakedly
into such breathtaking poverty
that all that will be left of you
will be a tendency to shine.

So don't just sit around this flame
choking on your mind.
For this is no campfire song
to mindlessly mantra yourself to sleep with.

Jump now into the space
between thoughts
and exit this dream
before I burn the damn place down.

-Adyashanti

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