On Grief

Staring out at grids of cement, some thoughts on grief, mourning, hope and healing.

Coming Home

My footsteps crushed on the gravel as I wandered over to a damp bench and sighed in relief as I sat down. It had been loud inside. I looked up at lady moon, and embraced the stillness, the solitude, embraced all of our living and dying and everything in between. The following words then came to me as a flurry of exploding thoughts that I felt to be as true as anything I had ever known.

What the eyes can’t see…

I love tinkering with views of perception and the slippery place we find ourselves in when we realize how subjective the act of seeing really is. Light reaches our eyes, but light and neither colors are absolutes. These following photos that capture the light that plants emit are not only other worldly beautiful, but also make you pause to think about all the things our senses aren’t tuned to pick up on. Enjoy.

Wisdom: The Words of a Native American tribesleader

The following letter, sent by Chief Seattle of the Dwamish Tribe in Washington to President Pierce in 1855, illustrates the dignity, wisdom, and continuing relevance of their native continental vision – “How can you buy or sell the sky – the warmth of the land? All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. What is it to say goodbye to the swift and the hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival.”

Poetry: An Ode to the Forest

Pay heed to the soft winds
That run along the summit of trees
In music; to the cooler breath
That from the inmost darkness comes, scarcely felt; the barky trunks, the ground,
The fresh moist ground, are all instinct.

Wisdom: Letters to a Young Poet

Letters to a Young Poet is a collection of ten letters written by poet Rainer Maria Rilke to a young officer cadet. Over the course of ten beautiful letters, Rilke advises Kappus on how a poet should feel, love, and seek truth. What follows are some excerpts I chose from his letters, for anyone (like me) who’s learning to love the questions more than the answers…

Wisdom: Belief & Technique for Modern Prose

It is a delicate dance, between the inner voice and outer editor — here are 30 riffs from one of literature’s freest expressionists on the process of writing and letting go. Even if it’s not your style, something here will resonate for anyone that’s ever picked up a pen with the urge to write.

Creativity: Gilbert Garcin

The inspirational story of Gilbert Garcin, factory worker turned surrealist photographer at the age of 65. Let Garcin be a reminder to us all that you’re never too old, and it is never to late to start creating, making, seeking, exploring.

Poetry: “You Learn” by Borges

After a while you learn the subtle difference
Between holding a hand and chaining a soul,
And you learn to build all your roads on today
Because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain for plans
And futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight.

Wisdom: Letters to Vincent van Gogh

And so we find ourselves, once again, in front of the blank canvas. The blank canvas, which reflects both our fear and our opportunity to break it. The first act of creation is not a mark, it is the nullification of the infinity that exists before the first mark. To make a mark is to remember that we are finite.

Poetry: The Woods by Jack Kerouac

I felt like lying down by the side of the trail and remembering it all. The woods do that to you, they always look familiar, long lost, like the face of a long-dead relative, like an old dream.