addiction

Some Come In, More Go Out

/ Beth Weaver-Kreider / Leave a comment

My husband has gotten a job selling used books for a historical society. This is a wonderful and a dangerous thing. It feeds my addiction. I went to the society’s Winter Book Sale today and bought these:

The Amazon Queen book is apparently based on an actual ancient Egyptian papyrus. I’m eager to read it through. I already have a copy of Life Prayers, but this one will be for my classroom. The L’Engle is a daily reader, and the Billy Collins has a bargain books sticker for $1 on the cover. I bought it at book sale paperback prices for $1.50. It’s hard to read the title here: The Trouble with Poetry.

So now I had a conundrum: I am getting rid of something every day in Lent. Can I really be buying NEW stuff? So I went through my shelves and pulled these off to give away. I made sure I’m giving away more than I bought. Four in, Eight out:

Tempering

/ Beth Weaver-Kreider / Leave a comment

As I have aged, my flames
have tempered my steel,
my temper has blazed, then waned,
my temperature flared
and lowered and raised.

I have strutted and fretted
my hour on the stage
written my rage on the page,
and wielded my words like a sword.

Now I stay in a more temperate range.
I attempt to remain more balanced today.
A gentler temperament has pacified
the brash face of the past.

Temperance need not steal the voice,
nor make a canary of the screeching harpy.
Simply, the word-sword no longer slashes
with indiscriminate hacking,
but a well-balanced metal
now guides the blade.

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I am pushing myself to work outside my comfort zone, to shift out of the mind-rut that has caught my wheels this last week. It’s hard for me to assess the strength and weakness of a poem when it steps so far out of my typical poetic spaces.

TOMORROW’S PROMPT:
It’s such an orderly progression. The Fool must learn about Temperance before she encounters the Devil. What bedevils you? What holds you bound? That’s the Fool’s encounter tomorrow. Addiction, cruelty, bondage to fear and uncertainty, repeated cycles of patterned behavior and habit that keep us from growing: that’s the bedevilment.

Gratitude List:
1. Chapel today was an outdoor celebration of Earth Day: drums, art, poetry, sheep shearing, fly fishing, and all sorts of other interactive activities for students to be in nature. They returned to class with winsome smiles and wind in their hair.
2. A thousand shades of green
3. Ferns. They grow inches every day.
4. Pushing outside the boundaries of habit.
5. Tiger swallowtails

May we walk in Beauty!

Dear Bright Soul and Blessings (Two)

/ Beth Weaver-Kreider / Leave a comment

Dear Bright Soul:

Those demons and addictions do not define who you are.
They do not define you.
They only serve to sharpen your focus,
to teach you what is your heart’s desire.

In this place where you are recovering your spirit:
Don’t forget to breathe.  All the way to your toes.
Put your roots deep and deeper still, into the earth.
Listen for the birds.  Watch for wings.
Seek your waters.  Drink lots and lots of water.
Cleansing water.  Clear water.
Find your fire.  Fan those coals.

Forgive yourself.
Over and over and over again.

Keep making art of your life.
Be safe. Be strong. Be well.
I love you.  Oh so much.

Walk in Beauty!

Green Tara

Blessing from My Students (two)

The best summer is right around the corner.
We are not sure about tomorrow,
so take on the challenges of today.
You never know what might come the next day.
We all deserve the best the world has to offer us.
May the Lord bless us to graduate.

May the force be with you!
May you never have a bad hair day.
May you always have a strong hair game.
May things work out for you.

May you not procrastinate.
May you follow the plan God has for you.
May you be happy in whatever you do.
May you live with love in your life for others to see.

May you wake up every day with a smile.
I hope you’ll step out into the world
with your shoulders back and your head up,
not giving in to the world’s stressors.
May you enjoy life.
Don’t worry about time.
May you never step on a Lego.
May all your stress fade away
and may your dreams become life.

Happiness shall start your day,
and peace shall start your night.
Never say things are impossible,
because God only puts you through things
that are possible to get through.

May trouble neglect you.
May angels protect you,
and heaven accept you.

God says: “We are in love always
if we never give up.
We are tough always
if life is tough.
We are different always
if life is always wonderful.”

May life offer you not so much challenge
that it knocks you down, but just enough
to make you know you are strong.
May you laugh a lot with friends.
May you find happiness in the little things.
May you live without regret.

May you remember to be unafraid of questions.
May you learn to dance in the rain.
And may you remember the stories they told you,
and be brave enough to write your own.
Like a tulip take root
and unfold in the light,
baring your colors to the world
like a tiny little sunrise.