Author Archives: Wendy

Framing the Barn

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It was a good day’s work,
however many times I had to recut the boards –
Recut, remeasure, try to find the place
where my precision slipped. Eventually,
I got them all done. Well, all but one,
which was persistently too short

It was a good day’s work
because I could contribute –
things I could do helped us get through
to the almost where we hoped for
place we ended up

We were a team, and we will be
an even better team tomorrow.
That, as much as structure,
is what we build each day.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 9, 2020

The Most Important Thing

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The very most important thing
cannot be marginalized,
spin doctors’ efforts to dismiss
notwithstanding. All the channels in the world
could be tuned to the intent of
squelching out the truth – through lies
and by ignoring it, and yet

Each of us, in our time, goes down
to the very deepest place,
the place we are alone,
the place where none of the clamor
can reach us – the echoes way up high
at the distant surface have no relevance,
offer no aid

And there, once our own howling dissipates,
we find what’s at the center.
The very most important thing
cannot be marginalized,
and nothing moves against it.
It is the motion, and the stillness,
and the reason for enduring hope.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 7, 2020

Haloed

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It hadn’t occurred to me before then
that our work, too, could be haloed,
could glow in the perfection of unfolding,
could be a blessing to both us
and all that touch it

It hadn’t occurred to me that, in fact,
it must be haloed, must reflect
the impulse that brings it forth,
must show, in its development,
and in the gratitude it hails,
the way we bless, the way we grow,
the way we’re loved.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 6, 2020

The Innocence of Breath

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I wanted to return
to the mingling of molecules,
the way the essential oils
you rubbed on you at the beginning of the practice
ended up in my clothes, in my hair.
I wanted to feel the comfort
in breathing as one,
in mixing our breath,
in sharing the intimacy
of one experience together

I don’t want this to be forbidden.
I want to reestablish
the innocence of breath,
the wholesomeness of closeness,
the fact of our sovereignty
excluding any hate or thinking evil
about each other, any way
to do each other harm.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 4, 2020

Reason

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“Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord”

I’ll show you reason –
I’ll show you the wild flight of Mind,
in which you soar and dive like a kite,
in which you fly right at the edge of
all you’re discovering, right now,
that you can know, and do, and be

I’ll show you reason –
this is the reason you’re here,
this is the Allness eclipsing every
exception, every fear of not
being included, every niggling thought
of being unable or unworthy

This is the life –
the one you came here for.
I’ll show you reason –
There is none other
but the truth of what you are.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 4, 2020

Deep Questions

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What heals the flesh?
What can fathom all the layers,
the impresses of moments,
the memories?

What kind of tenderness
can reach beneath all that is hidden,
can comprehend
what has been deeply felt
but then suppressed,
what still remains although the mind
has long forgotten?

What perspicacity
can sense the secret signals
waiting to be awakened
so that they thoroughly confound
the surface suppositions?

It takes a light that renders flesh transparent,
that can’t be shrouded, since it sparks a source within,
it takes a moment that is like a thousand years
to show the innocence in which all flesh is held.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 3, 2020

As work continues

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The night deepens in,
the moon starts its climb,
you have gone up to the work site
to look at the low fog and the high stars,
up to your ears in cricket song,
your thoughts pulled back again
to the progress of building,
all the little steps and things to think of,
things to redesign, things to figure out

Till the fog and stars and crickets
call you back again
to the pure magic
of where you are,
till the coalescing chilliness
brings you home.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 2, 2020

Crafted

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“Shall the clay say to the potter, you have no skill?”

Let me be alive
to the touch which forms me,
the firm impress of understanding,
the subtle nuance of guidance

Let me thrill to the imparting
of my sense of who I am –
where I mesh, what I am called to,
what I can do

There is glory
in the constant contact –
smooth rippling, light catching, life sparking,
there is peace in knowing
I’m in my creator’s hands.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 1, 2020

From the hammock, this afternoon

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The trees took my thoughts,
spun them up through the lights in their branches,
sent back an illustration
that clarified everything

In that way, it was a conversation –
what they told me, what I told them.
Between us, there was much uplift,
in gesture and perspective,
depth of dimension, colors, light,
exaltation in what, together,
we came to understand.

©Wendy Mulhern
September 29, 2020

By lamplight and by moonlight

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By lamplight and moonlight,
cricket undulations coming to the fore,
we settle into day’s end, sit on the porch
for just a little more

Cooked from the high arc of the day,
cooled by darkening evening,
we feel the equanimity
from work and well earned rest

There’s more to do tomorrow,
there’s a night’s sleep to slide into –
cushion for the coming day,
so little time to find a rhyme
before I slip away.

©Wendy Mulhern
September 28, 2020