“You can’t be an art teacher until you’re an artist. Duh.”
~Annie Liebovitz
quote-teach April 25, 2016
“You can’t be an art teacher until you’re an artist. Duh.”
~Annie Liebovitz
poem-dull
Your wits are dull
Your eyes are glazed
Your ambitions are low
You are dull
There is nowhere
for you to go.
poem-unexpected April 24, 2016
You had plans
expectations
fought to bring them to fruition.
Imagine your surprise
when they were realized,
to find what you’d surmised
to be a paradise, what you fantasized
is actually a ruination
and your frustration forces a
mutation of
your plans.
quote-choices
When a woman makes the choice to marry, to have children; in one way her life begins but in another way it stops. You build a life of details. You become a mother, a wife and you stop and stay steady so that your children can move. And when they leave they take your life of details with them. And then you’re expected move again only you don’t remember what moves you because no-one has asked in so long. Not even yourself. You never in your life think that love like this can happen to you.
~Francesca in Bridges of Madison County
by Robert James Waller.
It was hard to imagine what life would be once kids had grown and moved off to their own independent lives. Some women have invested so much in their children that they have to dig deeply to find that they are no longer who they were before children, and it’s time to find a new identity. It can bring depression and a sense of loss.
I confess, I was not one of those women. For me, departure of the children was a celebration and an immediate flowering. I started writing Grace Awakening a month after our kids moved out. A new life began on the page and a new world enfolded before me as I began interacting with authors. It made me thankful we’d had our kids so young. 🙂
poem- four centuries April 23, 2016
Four centuries
before I was born
Will Shakespeare arrived
on the planet.
Four centuries ago today
Will’s body died
but his voice remains,
his words will still enthrall,
for centuries.
poem- flourishing April 22, 2016
Last year,
we met to discuss how we were flourishing,
what made this place so wonderful,
so welcoming,
so special.
This year,
I read your words about us,
and my body weeps at what has become
of our once wonderful
welcoming,
special
place.
Tension in my shoulders.
Stomach churning.
Nails bitten.
Eyes clouded.
Head throbbing.
Make do with less until there is nothing left.
Remake what was precious and original
into tiny boxes that shove our innovation
into boring cookie cutters
and the only flourish is from the arm
cutting us to fit.
quote- creativity April 21, 2016
With respect to the fashion he loves to capture on New York streets photographer Bill Cunningham said,
“A lot of people have taste, but they don’t have the daring to be creative.”
.
.
How often have I heard this?
I love your shoes,
but I could never wear something like that.
Oh, I love your hair!
I wish I had the guts to do that.
Your outfits are always so great,
how do you come up with these ensembles?
That car is so cute!
I could never do that.
I’ve started about a dozen books,
but I never finish them.
Just do it. You have the power to decide.
I wonder some days, if I’ve gone over the deep end
into Crazy Old Lady Land
but what the hell. We live one time.
There are no secrets here.
Every day, make choices that make you feel
sublime.
poem- achievement April 19, 2016
A bank account with room for adventure
parchment with seals
a hand to hold
lips to kiss arms to embrace
Health to walk and talk pain free
Recognition for what’s good
Satisfaction and contentment
Faith in me. Trust around me.
Time for words .
. More time for words.
Time with wordsmiths.
Home with a view to
. tomorrow.
poem- buns April 18, 2016
I can! I will!
Independent spirit meets reality.
Baking after the brain injury
the cinnamon buns are tasty commas
rolling spirals a surprising impossibility.
Perhaps everything is
not
as it was.
Shawn L. Bird 