Author Archives: Wendy

My life now

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I learn the nature of myself
by what floats
and what sinks,
what opens up a grand expansiveness,
what traps me, lost, within its maze

I let each feeling have its say —
some leave me helpless,
some make me strong,
some will remain and some will pass away,
some are empowering,
none are wrong

I won’t direct the process
but I will be sifted,
I will not save myself
but I will still be lifted,
I’ll let the truth distill
the deeper gifts,
that shine the will to live,
that fill my life.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 22, 2018

Roofing

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We get into the rhythm of the work,
pneumatic nail gun and the air compressor,
the scratch of asphalt shingles laid down against each other,
the soothing arc of our repeated motion

It smells like blossoms when we stop and notice,
the air is warm enough, cool enough too —
while many pieces of our lives are scattered,
this work is something we can do

The birds are taking up their evening chorus,
smells of people’s dinners join the breeze,
it feels like it’s a mode we could continue
for another couple years at least —
could be the course we take, the path we climb
unless, until, we’re lifted out of time.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 21, 2018

Tree Therapy

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We walk hand in hand,
we look at trees in the park,
we feel the warmth of the sun.
Some things we don’t need to talk about,
some things we do

I had a dream in the morning
where our girl came back to us
at any age she wanted, at any time.
I counted it for true
and I was happy,
but it didn’t end the need to cry

There’s much more to us
than the stories we could make about ourselves.
Every part needs to come along with us,
every part needs to be healed.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 20, 2018

Errands

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I walk these steps as if they were floes,
shifting under me like something
that sits on liquid —
I am surprised I don’t feel more jostled

Something steadies me. Something like
light projecting my image over this surface,
so I’m never really needing
to catch my balance

Where I am exactly
is not clear to me, nor am I sure
of where I’ve ever been.
But it feels right to be here
and to keep walking.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 19, 2018

Sweeping down the centuries

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Time is of no more use to me.
I’ve been forced to give it up.
From now on I will approach it broadsides,
I will move in the current
where our growing awareness of Spirit
sweeps up all the broken dreams of history,
sets to right every small and large sadness
that ever occurred,
unites us with our past and future generations
and chimes a chorus
that will echo throughout the vast eternity
where there is time no longer.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 18, 2018

Navigating

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We tried to go back to the old hills
but they were gone, tried to navigate
the once familiar paths,
but after walking them awhile
we could tell that we were blind
and couldn’t see the markers

Strangely, we could also tell
that we had never seen them —
we had been content with blindness before —
now we can’t abide it
and we would rather
not take any steps except
when walking in the light,
not say anything
unless we know it’s true.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 16, 2018

Hush

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This concentration of power
allows no excuses.
There is no weak spot in the field
where the potency could leak out,
could run away

There is no voice against it,
no answer to it.

We are hushed, aware
that nothing makes sense,
nothing gets a hearing
outside of this truth,
in the face of which
we lay our weapons
and our burdens down.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 15, 2018

Deeper

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Beneath the pale etchings I have called my life,
something momentous moves,
something that fills out
more dimensions than I can count

Something so ultimately satisfying
that all I have attended to before —
all the inept scratchings,
all the lines I tried to set  in place,
and what was scribbled over all my efforts
by other hapless hands —
amount to nothing

I settle myself
into the deeper motion
and am at peace.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 14, 2018

Mother’s Day

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A rose may be shared,
as also, perhaps, a child,
or at least, the ties of motherhood

This didn’t come out as we expected,
did it, my love? But no matter —
it can be another thing we laugh about together

You, me, your dad, your brother —
we’ll all have a good laugh at this,
next time we get together,
next time we take a walk along the beach.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 13, 2018