The Language of Flowers
Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Moss grows without roots. His words took my breath away. Throughout a lifetime studying the biology of plants, this simple fact had eluded me, and it seemed now to be the one fact I needed, desperately, to have known.
Just For Now
Imogen Heap
Just for now, just for now, just for now
Just for now, just for now, just for now
It’s that time of year
Leave all our hopelessnesses aside
(If just for a little while)
Dear, stop right here
I know we’ll follow the bumpy ride
(I’m secretly on your side)
More music by Imogen Heap
Find Just For Now
Youtube Post by satchreis
Reading Simic
Thomas Pitre
I tried balancing a bowl of hot oatmeal on my lap and reading his poems in my tired
and
worn, green chair.
On the back cover of a collection, a reviewer wrote “Simic may end a poem with a
kiss
or a bludgeon.”
The reader will never know.
Blackjack Fresno Johnny sent me a big box of books of Simic’s poems. The books
were sent
in a cardboard box inside of another cardboard box, thoughtfully packed. The address
label
read:
To Tom Pitre, Poet.
It is my first affirmation as a poet.
I am always surprised when I read his work. Sometimes I think I have my finger on his
secrets, and then it slips away when I read another one. They are simple. He can
write
about an earthworm in the mud, and you will be enchanted.
Thomas Pitre blogs on 5th Coffee. You can find his poetry on Poetry Soup.
Elemental Wheels
Kelly Price
Nature virtually always satisfies my hunger for variety, balance and movement. It provides a vital kind of homecoming. Each piece I make tends to be a form of gratitude for each of these “homecomings.” — Kelly Price
Find more artwork by Kelly Price at Kellypriceart.com and on her Facebook Page: Kelly Price/ Silk Spirit
Explore prints by Kelly Price at Imagekind
While the Sun Checks her Make-Up
Dale Favier
Photo by Jonathon
A pause, while the sun gathers her courage to climb up over the hill. She’s packed her lunch and taken her meds, and she has her to-do list sketched out, but there’s always that little pause before throwing herself into the day.
God knows what all these things mean to all these people: we know so little, and we try so hard. Scuff and a pebble skits right over the edge, and falls without a sound. Good night! Good night! Dream of ragged ships coming in over the bar; dream of cinnamon and sunlight; dream of wet shirts laid out on the rocks to dry. More things are in play than ever we imagined: of that, at least, I’m sure.
Read the full post on Mole
Dale Favier works as a Licensed Massage Therapist and has written two books of poetry: Opening the World and Not Coming Back
Healing Quote of the Day
Photo by Sarah Chilcott
It’s not an easy journey, to get to a place where you forgive people. But it is such a powerful place, because it frees you. — Tyler Perry
Learn more about actor, director, producer and writer, Tyler Perry, on his website
Atonement
Ian McEwan
Nothing that can be, can come between me and the full prospect of my hopes.
More books by Ian McEwan
Fishing in Winter
Ralph Burns
Photo by David Restivo, NPS
A man staring at a small lake sees
His father cast light line out over
The willows. He’s forgotten his
Father has been dead for two years
And the lake is where a blue fog
Rolls, and the sky could be, if it
Were black or blue or white,
The backdrop of all attention.
He wades out to join the father,
Following where the good strikes
Seem to lead. It’s cold. The shape
Breath takes on a cold day is like
Anything else–a rise on a small lake,
The Oklahoma hills, blue scrub–
A shape already inside a shape,
Two songs, two breaths on the water.
More about the Poet Ralph Burns
Abraham Lincoln
Tommervik
It often requires more courage to dare to do right than to fear to do wrong. — Abraham Lincoln
View works by Tommervik on his website and facebook page.
To the Women in my Life on Valentine’s Day
Anita Sheridan Price
Photo by Louise Docker
We work, drive kids around, fix dinners, do laundry, care for aging parents, make time for spouses, volunteer, nurture and create. How often do we step back and say, “I made a difference today. The world is a better place because of me.”?
Some years ago I was in the check out aisle of a Target store and spotted a box of Barbie Valentines on sale. Thirty two valentines for ten cents! I had no idea why, but I had to buy them. Several months later I would rediscover them in a cupboard, just in time for Valentine’s Day. Valentine, you’re styling!, You sparkle, Valentine! Valentine, U R Cool! I laughed out loud as I signed my name beside the corny lines. Barbie grinned back through her painted smile, holding her head erect to keep her tiara in place. I could have sworn I saw her wink at me. She was in on the joke.
I mailed the valentines to a long list of women: sisters and cousins, old neighbors, childhood friends and girlfriends from high school and college. I saw their faces as I waded into memories drenched in laughter, love and drama. A few days later, the phone calls, letters and emails started coming. I heard voices I hadn’t heard for years, saw the carefully rounded handwriting I remembered from notes slipped to me in Algebra class, and felt my spirits rise along with the names in my inbox. One by one, the women from my past resurfaced. It was Christmas in February!
Last weekend my younger sister chose to celebrate her birthday with the people who have known and loved her the longest: her sisters. The three of us braved the snowy roads for 2 glorious days of sisterhood. We shared memories, a warm fire and chocolate (of course). We set out a glass of wine for the missing fourth sister. “I am never more comfortable than in your presence,” she had said before she left us. So true.
A few nights ago I was fortunate enough to share an evening with eight amazing women. We stormed the local restaurant, calling ourselves the Ladies Lemon Drop Society. The air filled with our stories, humor and kinship as we sipped our sugar rimmed martini glasses or drank tall lemonades. I looked around the table and saw the biologist, the artist, the paralegal, the teacher and the musician. There was the woman who can make a beaded necklace from recycled beer bottles, the mother who composed original music for the school orchestra, the scientist working on a cure for cancer, and the neighbor who single handedly installed a new toilet. We know how to advocate for kids, fight for the environment, make an impressive Chilean cake, get pet stains off the carpet and raise chickens. Put us all together, and there isn’t much we can’t accomplish.
And yet, are any of us ever satisfied with what we have achieved? We work, drive kids around, fix dinners, do laundry, care for aging parents, make time for spouses, volunteer, nurture and create. How often do we step back and say, “I made a difference today. The world is a better place because of me.”?
This Valentine’s Day, I want to say thank you to all the women in my life. Because who embodies love more than the sisters, daughters and mothers?
To me, you are the face of love.
Thank you for making every day Valentine’s Day.
More posts by Anita Sheridan Price