Category: Tenneson Woolf Poetry

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The Courage to Start Again

Starting again is a theme I pay attention to.

Sometimes it’s a big start-again, claiming something totally new. Sometimes it’s a renewed conviction for the same thing that’s been going on for a long time.

We learn, we humans. I’m so impressed by the courage that people have. To stay the course. To let go the course that doesn’t serve. To nuance the daily. To trust the simple. To open to love. To be unflinching.

With all of that in mind and heart, these words came this morning to my journal.

Thankfully,
there’s always
the starting again.

The way we pick up the dishes
and take out the trash,
and clean the counters.

The way we make room
for a new day, maybe a mystery,
to companion us.

We want whatever is next, don’t we.
We want to trust.
We want something to be there. 

Despite all of the troubles,
the complications,
and the reasons not to,

we don’ let go of the next
and perhaps, 
it doesn’t let go of us either.

Thankfully,
there is always
the starting again.

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Trust

The ducks swim in Oquirrh Lake. In the calm of a spring evening. As Dana and I walk the lake path. We marvel at the bigness of it all. The distant snow-capped Wasatch Mountains. The rising moon, near full. The bridge that offers walking passage. The stillness of what we see out there. And the stillness that we feel together; holding hands into our third year together.

There is a simplicity in all of it that I find is an essential guide. It’s the part of me that so loves to hear and honor what is deeply inner. And how that dances with all that moves in the outer. There is a simplicity that visits me. I love welcoming the most simple of phrases. Reminding me, perhaps you too, of the quiet that so often reassures.

I must 
trust
aa source.

Trust
that voice,
aa that speaks clarity.

Trust
that belly,
aa that delights simplicity.

Trust
that intuition
aa that dances joy.

So much
natural good 
aa happens then.

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Reflecting on Goodness

I am a person that reflects on human nature. Mine. Yours. Ours. I can’t seem to not, as I flow my way through the days and weeks, the rivers and the brooks. The ponds. The meadows. The city blocks.

And often, such reflection, proses its way to a few stanzas of meaning, that point to purpose in the small things and in the big things. Mine. Perhaps yours. What I would offer as helpful to ours.

Such it is, this morning, affirming a certain natural goodness.

I suppose it is true that my job,
just like it is for many, 
is to move forward, 
or start again, 
with consciousness. 
With kindness. 
Inviting life to flow and call as it does.

I suppose it is true that my job, 
just like it is for many, 
is to celebrate being alive, 
to delight 
in others being alive.
To create together.
And to enjoy the goodness of it all.

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Joy Matters; Joy Is Possible

I’ve been thinking a lot over the last week about a recent conversation I had with a UCC pastor. I was inspired to offer framing with him, to contrast efforts that focus on “what’s wrong” and invite efforts that focus on “what’s possible.” It’s a stuck point that many of us find our way to. It’s also a key release, a key action, to unstick with some focus on joy’s alchemizing ways.

And that got me to my journal, writing. Poetry, writing. Joy, seeking.

It matters
that some of us
seek
joy.

Even when
there is such prevalent
suffering.

Joy
isn’t
denial.

Joy is 
fierce
insistance.

Joy guides.
Joy lifts.
Joy reminds.
Joy carries.
Joy opens.
Joy positions.

Joy doesn’t overlook
what is hard, 
nor what is unjust.

It interrupts it,
claiming
matters.

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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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asd
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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