Lost Poems: Carpenter

Carpenter

If I made something with my hands
I am afraid a sloppy carpenter I would make
trying to hammer hay into gold
only pounding away to mulch,
digging out the foundations
when I can not afford the concrete.

So I will stare at the prayer nailed to the door,
missing its hinges,
reading Rilke's:

      Because One Man wanted so much to have you,
      I know that we can all want you.

~ Written by me, Annette, in the Spring of 2003


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We Have Been Called

We have been called
   naïve
as if it were
a dirty word
We have been called
   innocent
as though with shame
our cheeks should burn
So
We visited with
the careful idols
of cynicism
to learn to sneer
and pant and walk
   so as not to feel the scales
   of judgment rub wrongly
But we say
   some things must
   remain simple
   some things must remain
   untouched
   and pure
lest we all forget
the legacy which begot us
the health of our origins
the poetry of our fundamental selves

And so
it is to
the longing hearts we sing
rise! spread
your wings!
Let no hand
nor ill will
keep you.

~Published by Jewel, "a night without armor" in 1998

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Listen

Listen.  It's the word that is centering me these days.  An intention, a resolution of sorts.  To pause, to listen inward.  I have ambitions great and small for this new year, 2015. Some will be met and achieved, others will fall away unrealized.  But that's okay.  The most important thing for me this year is to listen. Let's see what happens.

Listen!

Do you hear it?
I do.
I can feel it.
I expect a miracle is coming.
It has set loose this restlessness
inside of me.

Expect it.
Dream about it.
Give birth to it in your being.
Know! Something good
is coming down the line.
Finding its way to you
like all things find their way
to God's children.

Listen!

- "Miracle" by Jewel Kilcher

Autumnal

 

"To Sorrow

I bade good morrow,

And thought to leave her far away behind,

But cheerly, cheerly,

She loves me dearly;

She is so constant to me and so kind.

I would deceive her,

And so leave her,

But ah! she is so constant and so kind."

 

-John Keats "Endymion" book 4, lines 173-181

quoted in The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy

 



Spring in August

It has been a bit cooler here today.  As I write the rain has started to come down.  Oh the smell of rain.  It makes everything feel clean and new again.

There is a back log of photographs that have been taken over the last year that were uploaded into Lightroom but never edited.  These few shots were taken on one of the first days of spring.  While I edited them today I remembered that special ordinary day.  Being awed by all the newness and budding of the season.  Awakening after the winter slumber.  Daisy and I had gone for a stroll in the neighborhood.  One of our regular walks.  Normally I don't bring my camera with me but that day I did and I am so thankful for it. 

Flowered Life

My life is filled with so many flowers these days.  I love it!  Little wild flowers along the trail, some of which I can name this year.  Potted flower garden is growing on my deck.  Flowers in magazines, in books, on my table, made up in cross stitch.  Flowers, flowers, flowers!!!

Midsummer Sprigs found its way back into my hand. I started it last year on our trip to Alaska but set it aside during the dark winter months.  It was too hard with that black background in the dim gray light.  One more motif, some lettering, and then off to the framers. 

Flower Confidential by Amy Stewart is such an intriguing look at the cut flower industry.  It makes me grateful to have a place like the Seattle Wholesalers Growers Market close by.  I love how she divided the book into three parts: breeding, growing, selling.  Each little section is filled with information told in delightful narrative that makes it fun to read.  I like books like this.  So many flower books are piling up beside waiting to be read next.

The Gardens of Gertrude Jekyll by Richard Bisgrove.  Oh Gertrude I am falling in love with your work.  This book has beautiful illustrations of gardens designed by Ms. Jekyll alongside beautiful photography and words that allow one to get a full picture of these gardens.  I am plotting and scheming for my garden to be already.  This fall ( oh please, this fall) will see my garden being remade.

My own little flower, Daisy.  The sweetest flower of all!

Thank you, thank you for all these flowers.

Scrapbook