Category: Tenneson Woolf Poetry

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Flow In An Ordinary Day

So, morning is often a time when I write. I seek to move some of my inner insights to expressions and structures of words. I seek to connect what is personal into what is more widely shared. In the poem below, the insight I’m working with is that every day is both common and uncommon at the same time. And that it takes a commitment, and often a poetic heart, to keep inviting the integration of it all.

For inspiration.

Today is common,
like most every day.

It starts
with simple beginnings.

Coffee.
A wee bit of writing.
Breath.

And then,
into the lists of things that both fill and surprise a day.

But today is also uncommon,
unlike most other days.

Renewal
has found me.

An excited mind.
A horizon brought close.
A connected heart.

And then,
into much flow that refreshes.

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At 18 Days Old — Reflections on Meeting My Granddaughter

So, yes. Over the last five days I was able to go to New York City to meet my granddaughter for the first time. What a treat to hold her. To offer a bit of help to her parents, my daughter and son-in-law. What a treat to feel tenderness wash over and about. To feel my newly arrived grandfathering feet underneath me. What a treat to know life flowing in this way.

Prosed poetry is a goto form of reflection for me. So, on the plane from Newark, New Jersey to Salt Lake City, Utah, I found myself coaxed by a few words of sense-making and celebration.

At 18 days old
it isn’t words articulated that soothe.
Rather, a kind and gently offered hum carries it all.

At 18 days old
perhaps this little one is imprinting us as much as we are her.
To love, to kindness, and to inherent tenderness. 

At 18 days old
I’m guessing she wishes us to catch her arriving soul.
To give her the tiniest of guided starts. 

Yes. Grateful. Moved. In many of the stereotypical ways as a new grandparent. But I would also say, awakened beyond the poignancy of meeting a new granddaughter for the first time. Awakened to wishing loving, kind, and tender learning as human beings, in another kind of hum that also carries it all.

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Water Knows

It is the part of me that celebrates what is most simple, and what is most meaningful, that writes in simple phrases.

So as to guide myself. And to go well with others, in streams of wisdom. And kindness. And helpfulness. And overall life-giving ways.

The words below, for inspiration that calls out even more of what flows so naturally in the inner.

Be with what flows.
Trust that the waters nourish
asdgand replenish.

Kindness and joy
asdgare currents.

Water knows.

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We Humans, Seek

I’m glad for this image of cattails from a weekend walk. I appreciate the beauty, the standing tall. I appreciate the mix among many other greens.

And then, in the spirit of appreciating beauty, both seeking it and welcoming it to continue to embrace, I reflected through a few words.

For simplicity and for inspiration of the stories that we humans live, and that live us.

We humans,
we seek joy.

Be it with friends,
or in endeavors of work,
or in evolution that is community.

That much I have learned.

We humans,
we seek learning.

Be it in the lettings go,
or in the lettings come,
or in the mysteries that live beneath it all.

That much I have learned.

We humans,
we seek contribution.

Be it in the small immediacies of now,
or in the long, slow-baked arcs,
or in the timeless ways that life unfolds.

That much I continue to learn.

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Gifts of Circle - Question Cardsasd
Gifts of Circle is 30 short essays divided into 4 sections: 1) Circle's Bigger Purpose, 2) Circle's Practice, 3) Circle's First Requirements, and 4) Circle's Possibility for Men. From the Introduction: "Circle is what I turn to in the most comprehensive stories I know -- the stories of human beings trying to be kind and aware together, trying to make a difference in varied causes for which we need to go well together. Circle is also what I turn to in the most immediate needs that live right in front of me and in front of most of us -- sharing dreams and difficulties, exploring conflicts and coherences. Circle is what I turn to. Circle is what turns us to each other."

Question Cards is an accompanying tool to Gifts of Circle. Each card (34) offers a quote from the corresponding chapter in the book, followed by sample questions to grow your Circle hosting skills and to create connection, courage, and compassionate action among groups you host in Circle.

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In My Nature is a collection of 10 poems. From A Note of Beginning: "This collection of poems arises from the many conversations I've been having about nature. Nature as guide. Nature as wild. Nature as organized. I remain a human being that so appreciates a curious nature in people. That so appreciates questions that pick fruit from inner being, that gather insights and intuitions to a basket, and then brings the to table to be enjoyed and shared over the next week."

This set of Note Cards (8 cards + envelopes)  quotes a few favorite passages from poems in In My Nature. I offer them as inspiration. And leave room for you to write personal notes.

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Most Mornings is a collection of 37 poems. I loved writing them. From the introduction: "This collection of poems comes from some of my sense-making that so often happens in the morning, nurtured by overnight sleep. The poems sample practices. They sample learnings. They sample insights and discoveries. They sample dilemmas and concerns."

This set of Note Cards (8 cards + envelopes)  quotes a few favorite passages from poems in Most Mornings. I offer them as inspiration. And leave room for you to write personal notes.

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