Category: belonging

poem: days, seasons/self, divine/community, cosmos

poem: days, seasons/self, divine/community, cosmos

arising early, the new day,
in pitch black darkness
the cold in my bones
silence surrounds me

the earth under
a blanket of ice and snow,
winter’s last gasp
before spring’s riot

in this season of self-introspection,
reflecting on this age of
spiritual greed and idolatrous self-serving
confronting difficult truths and personal discomfort,

longing for a more wholesome
footing with the Divine
Beloveds, the Spirit as close
as our next breath,

breath in, breath out,
inhale ‘Yah’, exhale ‘weh’
softening our hearts,
forsaking worldly rewards,

longing for Authentic Community together,
being as One in Divine Cosmic Consciousness
lighting the fire of the vital Life Force,
we are all just sojourners here walking one another Home

that thou art
rising, opening, sitting
upon the Lotus Throne of the
Divine Heart of the Cosmos

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
February, 20, 2021

photos by Herb Stone

(reader’s note: written during the great
Winter Storm of late February 2021)

poem: one can not serve two masters

poem: one can not serve two masters

to what dominant influence
are you captive
to what master has your life
become like chattel

is your master
fear, greed, envy,
pride, desire, wrath,
power, control, domination

or is your master
grace, love, Self truth,
wholeness, mutuality, healing,
belonging, Cosmic consciousness

who are we,
what is our purpose,
what is our life’s meaning,
what is it we intend to create here

mind your surroundings,
what are you receiving
with open hands and
on what do you stand

truth, beauty, and goodness
or falsity, repulsiveness, and depravity,
what is it you intend to create
on this Earth with this one, wild life

that which is not transformative
for the personal and collective good
is transmitted as suffering from
person to person and generation to generation

choose to be the change
the world needs and
apply yourself through
disciplined practice benefiting all beings

dedicate yourself to
creative expression which
sets all free, liberates, and
connects all in kinship and belonging

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
February 4, 2021

Art images:

1) Harry Sternberg, ‘Fascism’

2) Kate Deciccio, ‘Amanda Gorman, American Poet’

(reader’s note: gratitude to those who have
influenced me and whose influence is
flowing through this poem: Jesus, the Christ,
from his sermon on the mound found in the Gospel
of Mark, Gary Zukav, Mary Oliver, Richard Rohr,
Maya Angelo, and Mark Nepo)

poem: ode to our nation on inauguration day 2021

 

poem: ode to our nation on inauguration day 2021

today our nation
inaugurates our 46th.
president and vice president
Joe and Kamala
who feel like family
Papa and Auntie

after the past four years
of a president and his administration
bullying its’ citizens
undermining our rights
eroding our democracy
empowering domestic terrorist
cutting off world allies
causing death and confusion in a pandemic
and leading an insurrection
we citizens of good conscience
find some relief and optimism again

fellow Americans
let us come together
in confession, repentance, and reconciliation
healing one another and our nation
that we will finally do the hard work
of forming a more perfect union together

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
January 20, 2021
Inauguration Day

Photo credits: Vox, AP, AFP

Reflections: Recuperating and Redeeming the Soul of Our Nation

Reflections: Recuperating and Redeeming the Soul of Our Nation

Sitting here this morning reading the latest news updates and reflecting on yesterday’s attack on our U.S. Capital and our democracy, I feel bereft and forlorn. God knows it has been a very hard year, and more, for all of us and much more for so many others.

Here in my community over the past year we have faced a deadly, destructive tornado to start 2020, the ever worsening pandemic, social injustice and civil unrest, the recent anarchist bombing of our city, and yesterday this attack on our U.S. Capital and our democracy.

And yes, I, like many of you, feel I have left some skin in the fray. Resisting from the very beginning the outgoing presidential administration and its sycophants and the nationalism, fascist, racist, and social injustice it has spawned in our nation at every turn. Those responsible must be held accountable.

Certainly we face more challenges ahead as we work to heal our nation’s wounds and divisions from the flame thrower, hateful, narcissistic fascist bully some would call ‘president.’

With the incoming Democratic presidential administration and its’ control of the U.S. Congress, we long for calmer heads, steadier hands, justice, healing, and reconciliation where deserved. Certainly, those responsible for these crimes and attacks against our nation must be held accountable and face the consequences of their actions. But let us now return to the hard work of becoming a more perfect union for all our citizens with liberty and justice for all. The challenges are many which face us.

Just now, I feel like I need to remove these bloody, shredded clothes hanging from my wounded body, take a deep cleansing soak, get some rest, and recuperate, so I along with you, may return in our efforts together to save the soul of ourselves and our nation.

Beloveds, I always feel better having written it down. And now let us walk each other Home again as True Selves in Authentic Community of Belonging. Thank each of you for being there!

photo ‘A New Morning Dawns Outside My Door’

poem: citizens of the kin-dom

poem: citizens of the kin-dom

to whom or what are we loyal?

our ego (self),
Caesar (the empire),
dominant ideology,
the church,
politics,

your tribe

to whom or what do we surrender?

capitalism,
consumerism,
the powerful and controlling,
violence,
our mind,

nothing

until one is ready

to surrender their partial views
for the Big Picture,
one’s limited awareness
for the One Universal
Cosmic Consciousness,

we live incompletely

from our atomistic state

of partiality, one must
fully turn around and open
to Life Fulfilled Wholly
whereby the Consciousness
of the Universal Cosmic Christ

infills our self-emptying

the Great Cosmic Life Force

of the Universe, says Yes
to humanity and radical grace
and radical love for All, comes down
to us healing our wounds and offering
authenticity of diverse alternative

communities of belonging together

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
January 3, 2021

image unattributed