A Photo from early this winter when there was a mountain of snow at the mall parking lot. Expecting another larger mountain this week.
The first of the two big episodes of snow that are predicted this week has arrived and gone. It left about seven inches of fluffy new snow behind. We are in the lull between storms right now. No snow is falling but I expect it to begin again soon. So I’m sharing some
Snowstorm Distractions
today — podcasts, poems, and other inspiration that have moved me recently.
My first distraction (for both mind and soul) is the latest OnBeing episode, with Krista Tippet interviewing poet Ada Limón. What a refreshing conversation! I didn’t want it to end. I found Ada’s poems so interesting that I’ve reserved one of Ada’s recent books of poems from the library. I can’t wait until the book is available and I can sit and read her words again and again.
“… I go about my day, which isn’t // ordinary exactly, because nothing is ordinary / now even when it is ordinary. Now, something’s // breaking always on the skyline, falling over / and over against the ground, sometimes // unnoticed, sometimes covered up like sorrow, / sometimes buried without even a song”
— Ada Limón
A Visual Poem
And my second distraction is a poem, but it’s a visual poem called The Physics of Melt. It seems particularly relevant today. The poem is a combination of sketches and words and it is really worth a look and read, HERE.
It begins with the words, “snow is blank/only briefly—/just after it falls…” and it seems apropos given the fresh new snow.
My third nugget of truth is an essay called You Don’t Have to Know: Our Dark Materials. It’s about how we face difficult times in our life, a reminder to stay open and curious even when things feel impossible.
There’s a layered quality to suffering and intense emotion. As you become interested, a tiny, elf light appears in the darkest dungeon. That’s the gate of emptiness. As you become more interested, you walk deeper into the forest and everything looks different. Sometimes it becomes joyful right away but it doesn’t need to. It’s become a path and that is enough.
— John Tarrant, You Don’t Have to Know
Finally I’m sharing a link to a video of a musical composition called “Life is Sacred,” from the “Freedom in Performance Concert.” The music is composed by Sam Perkin and the violinist is Patrick Rafter. It features beautiful violin solos interspersed with the words of Charles Eisenstein about the sacredness of life.
[kad_youtube url=”https://youtube.com/watch?v=ROdjSkelcA8&si=EnSIkaIECMiOmarE” width=640 height=480 ]
May you walk in beauty.
Remembering beauty
Basil seedlings have sprouted!
View from my window this morning
0 Comments