Dukkha Prayer

Oh Great Spirit,

Thank you for teaching me to humble myself
before the awe of your creation;
to sit with the humility of my own limitations.

Thank you for teaching me to be still;
to sit with all that is within and all that is out;
to be a silent witness, unmoving observer.

Thank you for teaching me that I cannot do it all alone;
to ask for help and to humbly graciously receive;
for removing my stubborn arrogant pride.

Thank you for teaching me to take nothing for granted;
to view and appreciate every moment, every experience, every circumstance as a lesson and a gift;
to ride the ebbs and flows awash in a sea of gratitude.

Thank you for inspiring kindness, generosity, aid and compassion
in my own heart and the hearts of those around me;
for teaching us to serve as an interdependent community;
for inviting us back into Divine Union and demonstrating how all are One.

Thank you for this and every opportunity to grow;
as but a seedling I reach to embrace the light,
aware that the struggle is necessary to progress,
and for this life
I give thanks. 

Rrrrrrrrhmm

Rhythmic, rhyming, and romantic

Cotton Rolls

I might have trouble rolling my Rs
with my cottonmouth right now.

Los Elementos de Gratitud / The Elements of Gratitude

Los Elementos de Gratitud (Español)

Mi querida Isa La Intrépida
Cada día pienso de ti
y sonrío.

Te imagino bailando en el bosque
Dedos del pie desnudos en el suelo
Una gran columna de energía
conectando la Madre Tierra con el Papa Cielo arriba
y sonrío.

Puedo sentirte por la Luna
en los momentos quietos
media de la noche,
los momentos robados
de la vida loca, siempre tán ocupada, pero
nunca olvido a tomar
los momentos a conectar
y dar las gracias.

Porque estoy agradecida por el aire
que nos conecta
El viento transporta los mensajes
y los deseos de paz y felicidad.

Estoy agradecida por el agua.
El mar que nos enseña
que las posibilidades son infinitas
y nos humilla
y nos recuerda que somos pequeñitos
mientras
al mismo tiempo
somos el tamaño del universo
porque
somos el universo.
Tod@ son un@.

Estoy agradecida por los ríos,
el sangre fluyendo en las venas de Pacha Mama
y tambíen por los palos,
los pulmones de la Madre
Puedo sentir los pulsos,
la ritma de la danza cosmica.

Estoy agradecida por la tierra que nos sostiene y nos nutre
Por las raíces, la gravedad, y la sensación de balance
que siempre nos llama al hogar
que nos recuerda quien somos.
La tierra se sienta como tú
entonces
siempre estás cerca de mi.

Estoy agradecida por el fuego
que enciende el corazon
y los recuerdos de las fogatas mágicas
cuando arrunchemenos
con mimos cariñosos, un paz profundo, y emociones suavecitos
viendo la quema de leña.
Los árboles nos dieron sus ramas
Nos dieron hasta no quedó nada más que el humo
la ceniza
las memorias
y la gratitud.

Y por eso
estoy agradecida
Por eso
yo sonrío.

Gracias por la magia
Diosa de la jungla
de las montañas, del Amazon
Bruja de las hierbas
Guardiana de las semillas
Luz radiante de la Luna y el Sol
Creadora poetica y brillante
Inspiración y amor
Hasta la próxima vez
que nos vemos en los sueños -
Te amo, mi amor.
Te amo.
___________________________________________________

The Elements of Gratitude (English)

My darling Isa the Intrepid
Every day I think of you
and I smile.

I imagine you dancing in the forest
Toes naked in the soil
A grand column of energy
connecting Mother Earth with Papa Sky above
and I smile.

I can feel you through the Moon
in the quiet moments
middle of the night
the moments stolen
from the crazy life, always so busy, but
I never forget to take
the moments to connect
and give thanks.

Because I am grateful for the air
that connects us
The wind carries messages
and wishes of peace and happiness.

I am grateful for the water
The sea that teaches us
that possibilities are infinite
and humbles us
and reminds us that we are tiny
while
at the same time
we are the size of the universe
because
we are the universe.
All are one.

I am grateful for the rivers
the blood flowing in the veins of Mother Earth
and also for the trees,
the lungs of the Mother
I can feel them pulsing
the rhythm of the cosmic dance.

I am grateful for the earth that sustains and nourishes us
For the roots, the gravity, and the sense of balance
that always calls us home
that reminds us who we are.
The earth feels like you
therefore
you are always close to me.

I am grateful for the fire
that ignites the heart
and the memories of magical bonfires
when we cuddled
with loving caresses, a deep peace, and soft thrills
watching the firewood burn.
The trees gave us their branches
They gave until there was nothing left but smoke
and ash
and memories
and gratitude.

And for this
I am grateful
For this
I smile.

Thank you for the magic
Goddess of the jungle
of the mountains, the Amazon
Witch of the herbs
Guardian of the seeds
Radiant light of the Moon and the Sun
Poetic and brilliant creator
Inspiration and love
Until the next time
that we see each other in our dreams –
I love you, my love.
I love you.

Radiant Peacock

Acrylics and feathers on canvas.

Sorry my cell phone camera sucks so much and I can never seem to get the colour balance right :( In real life it's super vibrant!

Sour Honey

Poetry drips from my lips like
honey soured by truth.

The Shape of One

If you gaze in the Serpent's face you may find
the nervous eyes of a Marmot or Mouse
Lips brushing the curve of the heart
A scaly, furry, whiskered kiss
(the finned, the furred, the feathered
All my Relations).

Serpent twists, curls, and layers
Embodying the Sacred Spiral
Patterned with music notes
flowering into sun-drenched lovers.
Anchored, a sea-faring chord
A high note, a wooden
pockmarked vessel. This
vessel contains the Universe. This
vessel sails the Universe. This
vessel traverses and holds and embodies
this Universe.

Firm rooted legs, tree trunks like wind
Rivers pouring through lashed raw hide
Flesh and bark radiates the sound
Swirling knots become The Sound
New ideas, entities erupt/blossom forth
Spurring lolling bobbing canoes
painted with the union of Night and Day.

These branches scrape but cradle the Moon
Continents beaming
Lunar beckoning
These branches trace our blood vessels
These branches become our lungs.

Predator and prey energy dance in the spiral
Overcoming dualities, showing
Two sides of the same coin
Two faces of the same...
without a name
Shifting
slippery, fog-enshrouded
Capturing all our dreams
How did
Serpent knit this spider web
Weaving "realities"
Playing on our fears
This circle extends into disintegration
Melting, charred, blowing away
Scatter these skulls but not even bones can deny
The imprint, the portal of an awakened Third Eye.

Feathergreen billows and bellows
Which way is up
Is this a root or a leash
Does it nourish or chain
And I ask,
Can we not both
feed and be fed?
If I put you first
can I never get ahead?

But how far
can we really get
If I am one face and you another
without a name
Do you not know
There is no you
without me.

Embracing dualities
Notice the form,
the curanderos say.

Is plant medicine raising consciousness
incompatible with national symbols?
Only when East becomes West
when West knows East
When temples and spades and lotus
flowers and shrines
reflect into oneness
reflect on our oneness
Resonate forth, echo the round
Life rings galaxies wide

Are we so different
Are you able to define
Paint alive a love song to the world
Can you draw me
the shape of one?

Rivers and Tears

Rainbows twirl, fall and cascade
Slipping on the tears of the winter moon
Cougar howls from paw prints in the snow
Feline dismay at the drenching
by Grandmother's silver tears.

Sometimes the pain of the ancestors
washes down to us
Rivers connecting generations,
spanning space and time.
Some rivers are pure, fresh and sweet
Some muddied and clogged and brown
Some rivers carry toxins of where they've been before -
All rivers carve stone.
All rivers are steeped with ancient wisdom
It's all
in how you interpret it.

WallScreamTrenchGasBreathe

The cavernous sea rose up from the depths and claimed me. Silent screaming was my usual way, but today...I had nothing. I was so full, mouth full of bristles, throat full of regret, gut twisted and heavy with shame. The thorn in my side took on new dimensions, my wrist screamed from the act of writing, my hand could not hold itself up to love, to hold itself let alone another. I screamed and screamed from the empty barren cavity of my chest, and then that fell away and I realized I didn't have that either. Just silence growing creeping gnawing sewing the wound shut but it's crooked full of gravel and slivers shades of gangrene why didn't anybody clean this out before sealing it locking it so deep below? I wanna hold I wanna be held I wanna steer this story maybe it's time to drop this story. Today I realized my family story is one of rejection, the one I tell myself, that my mother didn't and doesn't want me, that I can't have love, that no one will ever be there for me. This is a pattern, a deep-rooted imprint, that repeats itself again and again in all my relationships. I expect others won't want me, that I'm an intrusion, an annoyance, I give up before I try, I don't talk to people because underneath I assume they won't be my friends, that they won't want to be, or that they'll leave me and I can't trust them with my heart. What's that, my heart? You mean this bone in my chest where the pains begin, this tight stranglehold where I struggle to draw a full breath? I see no heart, no organ, not even any blood. Just a wall, a tall wall, a thick wall, a cold deep stone wall, fathoms wide, oceans deep, galaxies high, wars thick, imperceptible anything but the wall, it goes on forever, everything is the wall. But wait, what's this, maybe those sharp pains are a pulse. The tightness is because something is straining inside. Something is growing inside, something is expanding, something is pushing against the wall. Something is that isn't the wall. Something is making room for itself, something is claiming space. Something is getting bigger; the wall trembles and tremors and cracks appear. Gas slips out through the cracks and it's the foulest stench, rotted guilt and pain and shame and doubt, mothballs and dying old sick people like your grandfather's closet if your grandfather's closet was made of fear, and I think mine is. Fear ten thousand years old, fermenting in a tomb, its bitterness disguised as it went sour and stale, but it still don't smell good, the kind of chemical sweet like a broken refrigerator and you just know it's wrong, not sure exactly what's going on but it definitely shouldn't smell like that. Nothing should smell like that. I feel sick with the gases, spiritually nauseous, light-headed heavy and depressed. Every fight-or-flight impulse animal instinct screams at the ready just smoke a joint smoke three joints maybe you wanna have a drink haven't been drunk in years but remember how you used to love it? Crave it, like ecstasy, mass distraction and synthetic happiness, numb feels more alive when I lie to myself, but you see I can't smile when I'm not wasted, it cuts deep but this way it don't hurt me. They say you get drunk to release what you can't show sober, and well I'm a happy drunk and I hug people and tell them that I love them. I open my body and I open my heart and I think you're beautiful and I appreciate you and a small squashed voice inside of me knows I would have more credibility if I could tell you how much I value our friendship when I'm sober. So years go by, bottles are emptied, my liver drowns in the tears from my heart. But that's the way shit goes down, it's a north-south axis, I didn't invent the law of gravity, or that other one where particles of matter attract and stick together. What I'm saying is I'm not responsible for this gluey hell-ton mess, or at least I didn't create every particle and I don't know much about physics, but I know it's a part of me and the glue is making it hard to breathe. The knots hold me back, and the barbs pierce when I try to move, but goddamn it there's cracks now and that shit's coming out. It leaks here and there and I can't believe how bad it smells, acrid and potent turning my stomach burning my eyes my gut falls away and why did I just remember now that my main recurring dream as a child was something coming after me and I was never clear on exactly what it was, a big dark cloud but my response was terror, every time I tried to scream but no sound would come out, my throat felt like glue like my chest does now, or there was just no power no voice, and I tried to run too but my legs weighed 3000 pounds with the consistency of Jell-O, struck to the earth and funny how my knees don't work now. Funny how I have difficulty speaking my truth now, or speaking at all. Well I tell you what, I can go on living in that dream and by that I mean dying, or I can keep screaming and I'm bigger now and I've found ways to get some air. My chest expands a little more with each breath. The glue is cracking, the wall is cracking, and god these trench gases are terrible, there's been a war in this chamber gone on for generations, but if there's anything I learned it's that I gotta let that shit go before it can go.

Goddess of the Hoop

Last night
I watched fire light dance and ripple
across the inky water
as a goddess rose out of the sea
Fierce and proud
Cheekbones like razors.
Transfixed, I cannot look away....

Flames swirl, a halo of brilliant heat
Her taut belly and curving chest
vibrating rhythmically
almost imperceptibly
But I
know what to look for.
She shimmies amid shimmers
Bathed in light.

Later
her black neoprene gives way to white fringe
Now holographic patterns projecting through space
Spinning rainbows
prisms, geometric new dimensions
Capturing and captivating
where flames once dominated.

The Moon smiles down in purring satisfaction
Feminine power to feminine power
Gold silver rainbows
Lioness, Medusa, Mermaids and Dragons
A Wood Nymph, a Water Nymph
All your mythologies
I see Kali, I see Gaia
This archetype before me
Step into her vortex
Spiral away....