poetry

 

 

burning questions with Patti Digh: poetic choices

Substance. Mindfulness. Deep play. Meaning-making.

Patti Digh.

(Insert a very humble bow, a Namaste, my hands folded in respect, and a "Woot! Woot! Patti's the bomb." Ommmm Patti.)

1. What is the question that you are currently living?
The question I live every morning is the one that started me on my current journey: What would I be doing today if I only had 37 days to live? It’s a question—and a time frame—that provides immediate perspective to my life. And it’s a tough question some days, because we are filled with “have to’s” and “should’s”. We learn those patterns at such a young age… I’m learning to really understand at a deep level that I am always, ALWAYS, in choice. I may not choose my circumstance, but I certainly choose how I am in that circumstance. That single-handedly eliminates my abdication of personal responsibility—and that, frankly, sucks some days when I’d rather blame things on others.

In this brave new 37days world, “have to” is changed to “choose to,” and “should” is changed to “will.” In this world, “I’ll try to” becomes “I will” or “I won’t” and “I can’t” becomes “I choose not to.”

Living as if you are dying provides immediate, sudden, potent clarity.

2. What makes something poetic?

Everything, EVERYTHING is poetry. Everything is poetic. If you’re alive, you’re a poet. If you’re alive, you’re an artist. Life itself is a creative act. I see poetry everywhere—in the way a waiter hands me my vegan enchilada, in the way the train doors close at the Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport, in the reflected smile of a cab driver in his rear view mirror when I ask about his children whose pictures are so proudly displayed, in the pain we feel when we encounter deep, vast soul-numbing loss.

There’s a wonderful quote from Osho: “When I say be creative, I don’t mean you should all go and become great painters and great poets. I simply mean let your life be a painting, let your life be a poem.”

What makes something poetic is our belief in poetry, of a meaning far beyond the surface of the thing itself, of metaphor, of the dance we dance daily between content and form.

3. What split intentions have you unified?

Oh, honey. How much time do you have?

I’ll start with just one. (more...)

 

 

 

operation secret valentine

We're not from the same tribe, are we?
Feline. Bear.
Fire. Earth.
Arrow. Tree.

Finally, I revel in that.
We are choice.
Precise and free in the choosing.
Not slotted, or arranged, or karmic.
Not mated, or introduced.
Not even necessary.

Rather: Essential, my Love.

Rather: Chosen, my Love.

With select scars and stories,
full of rise and honey and dreams.

Chosen.

And that, my Love,
is everything and more.

CLICK HERE TO PARTAKE IN THE LOVE-NESS:

 

 

 

what are your words for the new year?

Every new year some words choose me, like a magic spell to be cast on the year ahead. This year's ensemble showed up as it's own little poem of truth: Pure Love Innovates.

pure
This may or may not mean something to you, but I have five planets in Virgo (tho' my Sun sign is Gemini, which explains why I do what I do: communicate to the nth.) All that Virgo makes for an obsession with purifying, detoxing, Zen-ifying, eradicating all forms of physical and mental clutter from the known universe, and running through the desert naked. Also explains my kin with fire - the greatest purifier of all. It's not as heavy as it sounds.

• free from anything of a different, inferior, or contaminating kind; free from extraneous matter: pure gold; pure water.
• unmodified by an admixture; simple.
• clear; free from blemishes: pure skin.
• (of literary style) straightforward; unaffected.
• abstract or theoretical (opposed to applied ): pure science.
• without any discordant quality; clear and true: pure tones in music.
• absolute; utter; sheer: to sing for pure joy.
• being that and nothing else.
• clean, spotless, or unsullied: pure hands.
• untainted with evil; innocent: pure in heart.
• ceremonially or ritually clean.
• free of or without guilt; guiltless.
• independent of sense or experience: pure knowledge.

love

"L-o-v-e" is so overdone, used, abused, misused. This year it occurred to me that Joni Mitchell and I might have one more thing in common than just our citizenship: "I've looked at love from both sides now / from give and take, and still somehow / it's love's illusions I recall / I really don't know love at all." I want to know it and give it. I want to be loving in every way possible.

Marriage is not a love affair,
it's an ordeal.
It is a religious exercise, a sacrament,
the grace of participating in another life.

If you go into marriage with a program,
you will find that it won't work.

Successful marriage
is leading innovative lives together,
being open, non-programmed.
It's a free fall: how you handle each new thing as it comes along.

As a drop of oil on the sea,
you must float,
using intellect and compassion
to ride the waves.

- Joseph Campbell

innovates
admit, bring forward, bring in, coin, conceive, commence, develop, discover, enter, establish, evolve, found, generate, give birth to, hatch, inaugurate, initiate, induct, initiate, install, invent, kick off, launch, make, open up, organize, pioneer, plan, preface, present, produce, set up, spark, start, unveil, usher in.

The year is New. So are you. See you on the other side.
xo
Danielle

 

burning questions with susannah conway: beauty that heals

Susannah Conway reminds me of a hand painted tea cup: worn with love, cherished, elegant but wide open. Soothing. Something/someone you'd want to spend quality time with...talking about beauty and pop culture, and what it means to really notice your life. And what it means to create beauty and to be obsessed with that creating.

Susannah is happily afflicted with Polaphrenia, [noun, a clinical obsession with Polaroid film and cameras, often accompanied by an inability to control oneself when faced with a large stash of expired 600 film and a sunny day.] She is a photographer, a collector of moments, a seeker, and the creator of the incredibly popular "Unraveling" e-Course. And she is the first video interview on WhiteHotTruth.com, captured on film, beautifully. Naturally.

The next session of Susannah's e-course, Unravelling: Ways of Seeing My Self will be enrolling on Tuesday December 1st. The actual class begins on Monday January 4th and will definitely help to banish any January blues! The course will run for 8 weeks and the fee is £80 (British pounds). Every e-course Susannah offers sells out the day of enrollment, usually within two hours of being announced. Need I say more?

Find Susannah
Unravelling E-Course
SusannahConway.com
Twitter: @photobird
Facebook

Susannah is running a "My Creative Life" interview with me on her beautiful blog. Tune in, she asks grrreat questions.

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