Mutiny

Pleiades, Max Ernst

Some words

are not written, but rinsed,

by the ink of earth and eternity,

gathering the daylight and parsing the night.

Observe their movement

across the ether,

Their phosphorescence

as they trespass the armor of fear,

Their sexuality, coiled—and

breathless—as they remain unspoken.

Observe how they pull the light

inside their chambers.

Observe how they paint themselves

out of the shadows.

Observe how their silence cuts me.

Myrrh and Metanoia

Dark Abstraction, Georgia O'Keeffe

I will hold this moment

as though it were a visitation

from angels fallen

out of the heavens—fallen

into grace—and crying

in noiseless symphony.

Here is my open body.

Here is my uncut hair.

Here is the drunken spiral

of metamorphosis.

Here is the ritual incense

of salvation.

Here…

do not weep

Here…

the crimson tulip.

And here…

the dried up wounds,

faceted with oxidation.

do not wax indignant

Here…

an ingress.

And here…

a perforation

in the perfection

of empty platitudes.

understand

And here, too…

prayer—seated in quietude

upon my ribs—waiting for the

lamps of the sky to be illuminated.

* Words in italics from Baruch Spinoza

Intentions... and 2014

We’re down to the last couple of days of 2013. As the year draws to a close, and I continue to try and recover from a term of doctoral studies that just about did me in, I find myself taken by the very impermanence of… everything! Life is so very dynamic, and so are we. How beautiful is that! I’ve found that there is nothing more magical and gripping as the present moment, and my present moment is truly enchanting.

Being in my present moment… and taking in the sumptuousness of it all… I recognize that I would like to carry with me an intention into 2014. As I see it, an intention is not the same thing as a resolution. Resolutions are self-promises we make when driven by much necessity and little emotionality. As a result, we rarely succeed at keeping our resolutions. Intentions, on the other hand, are self-determinations we make with much emotionality and little or no necessity. Because our feelings are very much in the picture when it comes to our intentions, more often than not, we are successful in making those intentions real.

As my life unfolds in a series of present moments, the intention that I would like to take with me, to decorate every present moment as it happens spontaneously and spellbindingly, is this thought from the eternal Rumi:

I wish you all a 2014 filled with treasured intentions, and the patience and persistence to pave the paths that lead to the manifestation of those intentions. 2014 is going to be a magnificent year. I can feel it in my bones.

A Very Happy 2014 from me… to each and every one of you! :-)

Nevine

xoxoxo

Figure and Ground

Unknown Artist

how do i begin to paint

this picture?

here

now

today

in thought

in sensation

in body

you are

like yesterday

and tomorrow

and here

am i

the phobic lover

the pillar of organs

 and bone

waiting

for this stiff, unyielding heart

which forgets—time and again—to pulse

to curl into the totality of you

and ease