'TIS A GIFT TO BE SIMPLE

Photo by S. Auberle

"True simplicity consists not in the use of particular forms, but in foregoing overindulgence, in maintaining humility of spirit, and in keeping the material surroundings of our lives directly serviceable to necessary ends, even though these surroundings may properly be characterized by grace, symmetry and beauty."

- Book of Discipline of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)

WATCHING

Photo by S. Auberle

deep in the green wood

behind dark and trembling leaves

watches an old god

- mimi

THE REAL POEM

Photo by S. Auberle

"And I am thinking:

maybe just looking and listening

is the real work.

Maybe the world,

without us,

is the real poem."

- Mary Oliver

The Leaf & the Cloud

WILDERNESS

Yellowstone National Park - photo by S. Auberle

There's an elegiac quality in watching American wilderness go, because it's our own myth, the American frontier, that's deteriorating before our eyes. I feel a deep sorrow that my kids will never get to see what I've seen, and their kids will see nothing. There's a deep sadness whenever I look at nature now.

- Peter Matthiessen

ANNA SWIR IS MISSING IN THE FOREST

Photo by S. Auberle

ANNA SWIR IS MISSING IN THE FOREST

Last seen lying on a log

among trilliums, ladyslippers

and columbine...

It has rained since then,

a downpour of sweetness

drenching the book

I left among trees

where birds and squirrels

may one day line their nests

with a poet's words.

I didn't mean to leave her there,

but knelt to gather mushrooms

and, forgetting, walked away.

As she lay dying in Poland,

Anna wrote the book's last poem,

hospital sheets white and sterile

beneath her, no bed

of dark loam and leaves

no choirs of wildflowers

no one to whisper

she did not die,

she's only gone missing

for awhile

in the forest.

- mimi

FORGET-ME-NOT FANTASY

Photo by S. Auberle

dreaming wide awake

blue sea of forget-me-nots

dance me in the waves

- mimi

RETURN

Photo by S. Auberle

Looked out the window at dawn today to see a doe racing down the road. Pursued? Or just running for the sheer joy of it, because she can, because she is young and swift and beautiful. This age I am entering is not that anymore but now, I hope, is the time of deeper, slower, sweeter pleasures...

Like this:

DRYING MY HAIR IN THE SUN

Strands dance in the wind

over my sun-warmed shoulders.

I watch a squirrel rifling the bird feeder

listen to the cry of a gull

translucent above me

touch falling tulip petals

as their season ends.

How many more spring times,

we begin to wonder,

will we be allowed

and do we return again

and again like this

chorus of red flowers

beside my door

like these clouds of cherry blossoms,

this blue sea of forget-me-nots?

How many Mother's Days left to me,

my children swirling

in my heart--their cares,

their lives, their burdens, yes,

and how many more years

to relearn small pleasures

like drying my hair in the sun,

its shawl of gold and silver threads

spun just for me.

- mimi

FOXFIRE

Photo by S. Auberle

Found this little guy

in the middle of the road

one spring day last year.

Shooed him off to the side,

fell in love.

Think I saw him yesterday,

big, red, feisty and beautiful,

out in the back meadow.

Fell in love again.

FoxFire...

- mimi

TRILLIUM ON MOTHER'S DAY

Photo by S. Auberle

Three petals of the trillium for the three important mothers in my life: first my own mother, Margaret, who died seven years ago, and I still miss; and for the mothers of my grandchildren: daughter Laurie--the mother of two fine sons; and daughter-in-law Liz--the mother of a beautiful daughter and three more handsome boys.

How lucky can one woman be????????????????? Thanks to you all...

love, Mimi

WHERE I AM NOW

Photo by S. Auberle

Still springtime up here in the north. Still nothing to say. But the words, the poems, are coming. I can feel them out there, if I just stop long enough and be still. Till then, images speak for me. I don't know what they say, it doesn't matter. They just are. And I just am. Just being.

Just be...

Mimi

WHERE I'VE BEEN

Photo by S. Auberle

Heading east across the high plains of Colorado today. I think this must be one of the loneliest places on earth. And yet spectacular, in a stark, wild way. Antelope, pheasants, doves, and hawks and bright purple flowers along the roadside. Nothing but emptiness beneath the tall, billowing clouds. Thinking of how out here the sky can be your enemy--tornadoes swooping down in an instant, leveling all in their path. Thinking of the whirling demons up there, and the angels...

Was snowed in west of the Continental Divide on Saturday, then heavy snow and 23 degrees over Wolf Creek Pass on Sunday. Today, back in springtime. Tonight in Nebraska.

Stay tuned...

GONE FISHIN'

Photo by S. Auberle

Not really, but off the blogwaves for a week or so.

Looking for inspiration, dreams, poems.

Back when I have something new to say.

- Mimi

ENLIGHTENMENT

Wax print/painting by S. Auberle

Tonight is the Wesak Full Moon, the moon

that celebrates the enlightenment of Buddha...