Back with a Spate of Poems

It has been a long time since I have written here. I have a wealth of excuses, ranging from too many things to do to my husband going through a serious illness. But, they are all excuses. Suffice it to say that poetry still lives within me and fights to get out when I ignore it. For my first posting in months, here are a series of poems written in response to morning meditations based on excerpts from "Religions of the World and Ecology," published by Harvard University Press. The excerpts were compiled by Peggy Nash Rubin, extraordinary teacher/actor/human and part of Jean Houston's Mystery School. Thanks also to Elizabeth Austin, mentor and friend, for leading the meditations each day.

I
On the airwaves
Sunday pundits field accusations from both sides
Caught up in the drama
I feel my stomach clench
Then I step outside,
Watch a bee plumb the depts of an early blossom.
Even in the small space of my yard
Sun illumines truth beyond rebuttal
And I reconnect with peace.


II
Everyday
To sustain our lives
We choose what else must die...
It is fact.

Everyday
To advance our wellbeing
We bend nature to our will
In the act.

My prayer
Is that I take only as I need
And that my choices hold respect
For all I alter.

III
Outside three birch trees stand aligned.
Every year I watch as two burst into green.
Every year I fear the third will fail to flourish.

Then, slowly,
Tips on bowing limbs begin to green
Reminding me
Each living thing knows its season
Showing me
There is no such thing as too early
Or too late.

These are lessons I want to embrace.
Copyright © 2010 Mary Beth Watt. All rights reserved.

Enough for now. I will publish others on an ongoing basis. I promise not to be "away" so long again.

Guest Poet Lisa Nelson

Here is a poem written by a friend of mine, Lisa Nelson. Lisa has a wonderful, sometimes slaunchwise, way of looking at life that pulls deep meaning from a well of humor. This poem is a great example.

Here's one way to do it

A little more than giddy
a little less than panicked
Noticing that the same circumstances
devastate and delight.
How is that possible?
The calculations of these equations
take off, bend, circle back screaming and howling
My god, they're actually enjoying themselves!
The implications stretch and then burst that container they were filling.
It's a new universe!

A lot has happened in my life since last I added my thoughts to this blog. My friend, Dale, has left us, enriched by the memories of a life fully lived. I've travelled to Shasta with six soul sisters. And, of course, I've been caught up in the events that define our lives. But finally, I have a poem I want to post. It carries a few of the memories of my Shasta trip.

From Shasta, I Know...

From Shasta, double shouldered mountain

I learned to see beyond the nearest range

In the panther’s meadow, as I walked

I learned to listen to more than I could hear
In the purity of deep Castle Lake

I saw reflections of all that ever was

And though snow clouds hid the fullness of the moon

I knew myself enlightened nonetheless

A trip to such a place of earthly grandeur

Brings deepest revelation of God’s love

Copyright © 2009 Mary Beth Watt. All rights reserved.

How to Create

Today I finally have some time to breathe. For some reason, the last two weeks have been so full that I haven't taken the time to post here, but stray bits of poetry have come to me in odd moments nonetheless. This is something I jotted on the back of another piece of paper before running off to do something else. I found it this morning, read it, and realized I'd written a poem after all. Funny how that works sometimes.

How to Create

We are here to turn things on their heads
To stir the pot
To break free
To spin out of control in so forceful a turning
That we carve new pathways through the rocks

Every thought we hold - 
Even a thought we fight against -
That is different in some way
That smacks of rebellion
That leads us even a tiny bit astray from how others tell us we must think
Strikes sparks of joy in the Universe

It is just such rebellious thoughts
That add most to Creation

Caress of Understanding

When I see someone
With malice in his heart
I want to be the mirror of his hatred
Until I let myself see the God in him.

When I stand in error
Having done a thing I meant never to do
I view myself with loathing
Until I let myself know the God in me.

When we stand apart
Making differences of all we are
I want to win the battle of our wills
Until I allow the thought that we are both Creators.

Is it respect I must then admit to
Or tolerance or acceptance?
Or is it the caress of understanding we are One?

Copyright © 2009 Mary Beth Watt. All rights reserved.

Lessons from a Dying Friend

This poem is for my friend, Dale, and his wife, Marilyn. Dale has lung cancer, and they are going through the end times... with love, with dignity, even with gratitude. Not long ago, Dale experienced a crisis that had us all believing he would leave us soon. But he recovered from the pneumonia that threatened him, thanks to his own strength of will. This is the poem I wrote following that time. I've shown it to Dale as a way of thanking him for what he is teaching me.

Dying’s not for the faint of heart, I recall my father saying
Watching you, my friend, I know the truth in that
Seeing you suffer and strain, I wished for your release
Wanting to free you from death through an easier death

But you wouldn’t give up your stubborn life hold,
Not as easily as we wanted to wish for you
Your frail form strove for more life than you had
Your strength overwhelmed the reaper’s call

And I watched you with discomfort at first
Refuting the choices you’d made in your freedom
Until I understood the power of your desire
And gave you your right of sovereignty

What place had I to deny you the full life’s length
Of suffering, of humanity, of unmitigated existence?
You taught me the boundaries that cannot be crossed,
The judgments that cannot be judged

So live fully, my friend, until your own hand
Lets loose of the lifeline you grasp so tightly
I’ll watch through your journey, a friend by your side
And remember your strength till my own life light fades

Copyright © 2009 Mary Beth Watt. All rights reserved.

Thank you, Dale and Marilyn

Cayucos

We spent Labor Day weekend in Cambria. On Saturday, we drove down to the little beach town of Cayucos to walk our dogs on the beach. The holiday brought out crowds of tourists, but we were more interested in the other crowds that gathered. This is what happened.

Cayucos

Morning finds this sleepy beach town waking
To the calling of gulls on the strand
But this day lures more than the usual inhabitants

Something is running just beyond the breakers
The cormorants know, and the seals
Their congregations swell as the service begins


Then dolphins circle, riding the cresting seas
Triangle fins and arched backs rising
Above the swells and beyond the bands of gulls


Soon the air fills with graceful pelican echelons
These master fishers claiming a full share
Of the feast God provides below the cerulean surface


A thousand pelicans surf the air and ride the waves
Until one folds and dives into the sea
Then rises to float by the gulls, beak swollen with success


More brigades of pelicans cast shadows on the sand
As alongside floats another monarch of air
A single osprey, patterned wings slicing through the sky


Copyright © 2009 Mary Beth Watt. All rights reserved.