Author Archives: Wendy

The Textures of Waiting

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beach log

We find ourselves
in the many textures of waiting —
the swirling, floating one,
the calm and solid one,
the one in which, within its span,
time stretches endlessly,
the one where weeks nip up
against each other’s heels

We wait for the next action in the sequence,
We wait for our clear focus to return,
We watch for coalescences, events and seasons
to find the perfect moment to jump in

We wait, we move, we wait
and maybe find our steps
lined up with wisdom,
maybe find the ever active peace
maybe find the rhythm and the joy
that marks our presence here,
that sets our place.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 6, 2014

I Start to Learn

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Calipoioa river

I start to learn
to give up my positions,
start to learn to be the stream
flowing in the knowing
that nothing stationary
has any staying power —
nothing static is true
for more than maybe just a moment

And everything delightful
that endures, that excites,
that lends a constant presence to rely upon
is moving in the current,
being life, being dynamic,
defined in interactions and in vectors,
harmonizing forces,
stable in the action of engagement,
relevant because it’s here, alive.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 5, 2014

Life Raft

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mill creek

Wake up. Wake up,
but do it carefully —
for where, within your dream
you thought you were on solid ground,
you’re not. The place we are
is sort of like a life raft,
one that depends on you,
and all of us, to keep the balance.

We need each other,
and if you call someone an enemy,
that image, in your thought,
is like a hole. From which
the air that floats us
can seep out.

We all need
to keep our minds free
from those leaks. And we need
to learn to move
in concert with each other
so we can guide our craft safely
though the sea may try to swamp us,
hold together through the storm
and reach the shore.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 4, 2014

You Don’t Have to Fail

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winter trees

You don’t have to fail,
though all your efforts
up till now, were subject,
more or less,
to the sands of doubt
which would start slipping
out and out, from what you thought
was your foundation

You don’t have to fail
though you’ve been taught
that winning is illusive,
that others may achieve it
but not you,
or that winning has to be
at someone else’s loss;
this is not true

Though you have thought
success must be a thin veneer
beneath which you’d be haunted
by the same old fear,
there is a quiet power in the peace of here:
the triumph of your being can shine clear

You don’t have to fail.
There is no failure in the web of life,
the skies, the stars —
The same is true
in the unfolding of what you are.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 3, 2014

The Law of Life is here!

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Law of Life coverpic1My seventh book of poems, The Law of Life, is now available.

I struggle with words for this one. All the enthusiastic phrases that come to mind sound like so much advertising, and I want some way to say, no, really — this one IS special. Here’s the description that comes up on CreateSpace’s online store and on Amazon:

These poems reflect a synthesis of experience and inspiration, of love and an insatiable desire to understand. They express many dimensions of the author’s perception of the Law of Life — the primal order seen in everything. Paired with photographs taken by the author and her family members, these poems offer delightful insights into life’s intricate wonder, and the hope that comes from close observation.

All of which, I feel, is true. Somewhere in the space between the modesty my social upbringing encourages and the hype that our shopping-as-worship society demands, I commend to you my newest book. I hope you’ll read it. I hope you’ll write a review of it. I hope you’ll want to give it to all your friends.

(Clicking the image will connect you to where you can buy the book on CreateSpace. You can also buy it on Amazon, but CreateSpace gives me a better deal. If you then are motivated to go to Amazon and write a review, that would be wonderful.)

 

Colors

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colors2a

I came back high
from riding colors,
swooping like a swallow
down the many currents
of perception

Feeling the excitement,
the waking up inside
of all that saturation,
steeping myself in the burnt sienna
of dried leaves after frost,
cleansing my palate
in distant sage of afternoon spruce,
intoxicated
with sun-soaked golden green
against a shaded hollow
and enchanting russet of sunset
on bare tree limbs

It was enough
to fill me up,
to satisfy an unacknowledged need
and inundate my moments before sleep
with all those combinations,
infusing me with unexpected joy.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 1, 2014

Marcola, November’s End

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The rain holds conversations with itself
and with the wind,
falling down on several metal roofs,
tapering off, then thinking
of something more to say,
The over-full river
occasionally adds a murmur

We eavesdrop for a while
inside our cozy cabin
until lulled toward sleep,
our minds washed with visions
of the beckoning land.

©Wendy Mulhern
November 29, 2014

Struggle

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Against manifest mass insanity
There’s no way to struggle,
No way to even begin a vast journey
across football fields,
across big box malls,
across miles and miles
of thickly sprayed synthetic crops
(whole towns decimated, desiccated)

Against the broadcast lies,
There is no mouthpiece big enough
to even formulate the counter-facts —
I’m rendered speechless
by having too much to say
and such a little voice

All I can do
is turn away from the whole story,
All I can do
is learn how to be real,
All I can do
is forge a new truth
from shared vision
and shared breath
and shared time.

©Wendy Mulhern
November 27, 2014

Sands of Change

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beach

I will flow into my sensing
of what is true,
I will not wait for others to go first.
I will pour like sand,
no grain delaying,
with the full commitment
of all my weight,
aware that gravity is here
and my surrender
moves me with calmness
through the changes,
and the weight of others
will be eased
into the leaning
of my willingness
to go down,
to settle
all the way in.

©Wendy Mulhern
November 26, 2014